BECKLEY — Mitt Romney and Barack Obama aren’t on any election ballot this year.
That didn’t stop the former GOP presidential nominee from railing against the president Tuesday, hammering home an argument that’s one of most popular and frequent among the candidates Romney came to West Virginia to endorse: Obama and his policies are bad for West Virginia.
More than 200 people welcomed Romney with applause and chants during a rally for Republican candidates at Tamarack. Standing on a stage with Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, state Sen. Evan Jenkins and Alex Mooney, Romney told the crowd they were looking at the team that would “stand up for coal” in Congress.
“This team here, this is the team that’s going to represent West Virginia in Washington,” Romney said.
Romney easily carried West Virginia in the 2012 presidential election. He relied on some of his campaign messaging to fire up the crowd Tuesday: Romney blasted Obama and other national Democrats on foreign policy, said the Affordable Care Act isn’t working and criticized the president for not creating enough jobs.
As Capito, Jenkins and others pointed out repeatedly, Romney won all 55 counties and more than 60 percent of the overall vote. He won the 2nd Congressional District by 22 percentage points, said Mooney, the GOP nominee in the 2nd Congressional District.
The former Maryland GOP lawmaker hopes voters recall Romney’s endorsement of him over Democrat Nick Casey.
“The contrast between (Casey) and I is the same contrast between Obama and Mitt Romney,” Mooney said after the event, noting Casey’s support of Obama when he served as state Democratic Party chairman.
“Here in this election in November the voters will have a choice again”
Capito’s race against Democrat Secretary of State Natalie Tennant for the U.S. Senate and Jenkins challenging Rep. Nick Rahall in the 3rd Congressional District have both drawn considerable national attention. National Republicans are confident Capito will win and help the GOP secure a majority in the Senate, and they see Rahall as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in Congress…