South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley Endorses Mitt Romney

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Nikki Haley Endorses Mitt Romney

Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor elected with the help of the Tea Party movement and whose support is coveted, endorsed Mitt Romney Friday morning, making her announcement on “Fox & Friends.”

“Today is the day that I’m throwing all of my support behind Mitt Romney for president,” Ms. Haley said, speaking from South Carolina. “What I wanted was someone who knew what it was like to turn broken companies around.”

Ms. Haley is expected to appear with Mr. Romney at a rally at a firehouse in Greenville, S.C., Friday afternoon, and the two are also scheduled to appear on Greta Van Susteren’s “On the Record” Friday evening. South Carolina follows Iowa and New Hampshire in presidential nominating contests.

“Now more than ever, we need someone who has the leadership to deal with a broken Washington,” Ms. Haley added.

Ms. Haley’s endorsement had been sought by almost all of the Republican candidates. She said that she had spoken to all of them except Ron Paul, who she said never called her office to ask.

“You put all these candidates together and you have one perfect candidate,” she said. “But you are never going to have a perfect candidate.”

Endorsements often mean less than candidates hope they will, because voters generally don’t vote for a presidential candidate on the advice of another politician. But in rare cases, they can be symbolic of a larger dynamic in a contest.

Mr. Romney’s campaign is hoping that Ms. Haley’s nod, like the endorsement by Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, will send a broader message of acceptance by conservative Republicans, whose support he has struggled to win.

“It is an honor to have the endorsement of Governor Haley,” Mr. Romney said in an e-mail statement released by his campaign. “As a successful businesswoman who entered public service so government could better serve the people, Governor Haley’s career-long efforts to reform government, make government more accountable to the taxpayers, and fight wasteful spending should be examples for leaders across the country. These conservative principles of smaller government are what I am fighting for in my campaign and will be the basis for restoring economic prosperity and fiscal health.”

The endorsement from Ms. Haley has the potential to help Mr. Romney in a critical, conservative state where he is trailing Newt Gingrich in most polls. Mr. Romney came in fourth in the state in 2008, getting only 15 percent of the vote.

Even with Ms. Haley’s nod, Mr. Romney may have a tough time in the state, where Republican primary voters tend to be conservative and religious. Mr. Romney, who is a Mormon, could still struggle for support in the state.

But the benefit to Mr. Romney from Ms. Haley’s endorsement may go beyond the borders of South Carolina.

By edging out Mr. Gingrich for the nod, Mr. Romney may be able to shift the narrative of a campaign that is playing catch-up in the last weeks before voting begins. That could help him regain ground he has lost in the polls in places like Iowa and New Hampshire.

It also gives Mr. Romney another stamp of approval from an outside-Washington, Tea Party conservative who can testify — and will, all weekend long — that Mr. Romney’s conservative credentials are better than Mr. Gingrich’s.

In the Fox News interview, Ms. Haley said she decided to endorse “someone who is not part of the chaos of Washington,” adding that “now more than ever we need someone who has the leadership to deal with a broken Washington.”

Mr. Romney’s campaign will no doubt use those words in campaign commercials and in appearances throughout the early primary states.

The Romney campaign considered Ms. Haley’s endorsement such a big deal that they chartered a plane from Iowa to South Carolina to make sure members of the national media would make it there for her afternoon announcement.

With less than three weeks out from the first votes, Mr. Romney is trying to lock down the support of every Republican possible, including those who have the support of the Tea Party. On Tuesday, Christine O’Donnell, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Delaware, also threw her support behind Mr. Romney.

“She’s a big voice in the Tea Party movement, a committed conservative,” Mr. Romney said, referring to Ms. O’Donnell, in an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday. “I’m pleased that she came out and endorsed me. I think that will have a lot of people in the Tea Party, who’ve been wondering who to support as they get closer to actually voting, to say, ‘Hey, if Christine O’Donnell supports Mitt Romney, this guy has the kind of principles Tea Partiers can be happy with.’ ”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/nikki-haley-endorses-mitt-romney/

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Basically showing the C(onfused) of ABCD!

Edited December 17, 2011 by Saddle Bronc