VOL. 126 | NO. 186 | Friday, September 23, 2011
By Andy Meek
Updated 4:38PMAt one point during his quick stop in Memphis this week, former Massachusetts governor and current Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney quoted a few lines from the poet Sam Walter Foss to a cadre of the city?s business elite.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are making appearances in Memphis while on the campaign trail.
(Photo: AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
?Bring me men to match my mountains; bring me men to match my plains. Men with empires in their purpose, and new eras in their brains,? the governor recited during a fundraiser hosted by former Saks Inc. CEO Brad Martin at which Romney reportedly left a favorable impression with his audience.
And that Tuesday, Sept. 20, audience, in turn, left the presidential contender with a haul of campaign cash that topped six figures, by one estimate.
At the event, which also was attended by political heavyweights like Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell and former U.S. Attorney David Kustoff, Romney road-tested themes and turns of phrase he?ll likely air out during the coming weeks and days of the campaign on the broader national stage.
Romney told his Memphis audience, for example, that every street in America is connected ? with the idea being that Wall Street runs uninterrupted into Main Street as the former influences the latter, and vice versa. Romney also pounded President Barack Obama, saying Obama is ?clueless about the economy? and that in one of his first acts as president, Romney would exempt every state from Obama?s signature health care reform legislation until such time as it could be repealed.
Separate from all that, Romney?s visit also underscored the fact that Memphis campaign donors are getting glad-handed this month by the two leading Republican presidential candidates, Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, both of whom are visiting Memphis about a week apart.
Perry is scheduled to attend a fundraiser Wednesday, Sept. 28, at the Memphis Botanic Garden.
The talk of economic and political themes from that pair of fundraisers is likely to spill into the day after Perry?s appearance. Some of the same attendees are likely to be in the audience Sept. 29 at the Economic Club of Memphis, when the featured speaker will be Bruce Bartlett.
Bartlett is a former policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and also worked in the U.S. Treasury Department under President George H.W. Bush.
?Tennesseans typically don?t get the advantage that those living in the early caucus and primary states have to meet and talk with the presidential primary candidates,? said attorney Justin Joy, who?s also the Shelby County Republican Party chairman. ?The fact that two of the presidential primary contenders are making a trip to Shelby County ? not only shows that they believe Tennessee is an important state for them in the primary race but also shows the strength of Republican support in this county, both in terms of grassroots interest and financial contributors.
?For other presidential candidates who have not made a stop in Tennessee yet, I hope they?ll spend some time campaigning here, and for those candidates who have already been to our state, I hope they?ll come again soon.?
Since April, Romney has collected $12,000 from donors who identified their city as Memphis, according to the Federal Election Commission website. Perry?s totals are not yet available because he?s still a relatively new entry into the race.
Perry may find plenty of support in the Volunteer State. Two months ago, the Texas governor held an hour-long discussion in Austin about possibly getting into the presidential race, according to Politico. Names of attendees were kept under wraps, but they reportedly included political, business and entertainment figures from Tennessee and a handful of elected leaders from Georgia.
Source: http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2011/sep/23/candidate-central/
Source: http://kwindur.blogspot.com/2011/09/candidate-central.html
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