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Romney Tells College Crowd: Marriage First, Then Babies

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January 16, 2008 10:22 PM

ABC News' Matt Stuart reports: Mitt Romney hit the stage in front of crowd of several hundred Wednesday at the University of South Carolina, cracking jokes and sticking to his new message that "Washington is Broken."

After quickly eating some Kentucky Fried Chicken in a side room, Romney took the stage and seemed to be sticking to the stump script. When delivering a usual line emphasizing the importance of marriage, saying "I know we got a college crowd here. Don't forget, before you have babies, get married. Marriage comes first." As many in the audience cheered, Romney joked, "Those are your parents cheering," to few laughs.

Following his win in the Michigan primary after losses in New Hampshire and Iowa, Romney claimed his retooled message was a "victory of optimism over Washington style pessimism," in a veiled swipe at his chief rival in Michigan, Sen. John McCain.

Romney continued to criticize the federal government in his stump speech, exclaiming that "Washington Is Broken" while signs to that effect flank him at every event. However, Romney appears reluctant to say specifically what it is about Washington that is "broken."

"It's not Republican or Democrat, its not the White House or Congress," Romney claimed tonight, "it's instead the whole institution of Washington."

January 16, 2008 in Palin, Sarah | Permalink | User Comments (7)

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Romney's win in Michigan means absolutely nothing. I mean c'mon, it's essentially his own state. How big a deal would it be if Huckabee won Arkansas or McCain won Arizona? Most candidates skip states where native sons are running. The fact that McCain took him on in his own state and got 30% of the the vote shows how weak Romney is. He also spent almost ten times as much money as the others in winning his home state with only 39% of the vote is pretty pathetic. The exit polls showed that almost half of Romney's voters cast their ballot because he was a native son. He cannot possibly concentrate his money and efforts like this on Super Dooper Tuesday. Mitt is pretty much finished no matter how much his bucks prolong his 15 minutes of fame.

Posted by: LAGuy | Jan 17, 2008 2:30:38 AM

Just a note about Romney's win. It is just as substantial as Huckabee's in IA or McCain's in NH. McCain had a large base in New Hampshire having won the state in 2000 (he also won Michigan in '00). However, Romney brought what was a much greater win for McCain 8 years ago in NH down to a narrow 5% victory. Also, the same is true of Huckabee's win in Iowa that was greatly spurred by his evangelical base there. Clearly, all of these wins have been based to some degree in the given candidate's foundation in the state proving that the wins in themselves are not definitive in selecting a nominee. This race is undoubtedly still wide open.

Posted by: ajj89 | Jan 17, 2008 3:47:15 AM

P.S. Regarding money. There is a lot of talk about Mitt's funds. If any candidate thinks that the approach of attacking a candidate's strong financial base as producing faulty campaign results will last through to the presidency, they are only kidding themselves. Have they seen how much Hillary or Obama have raised? Way beyond Mitt, that's for sure. It's true that one can't buy a presidency ideologically, but in reality, that argument never seems to pay the bills or keep a campaign afloat, especially in the face of the "high spending" dems. So while that attack against his superior funding may seem to work now, I'd like to see how it holds when Hillary or Obama outspend that candidate far beyond a mere "20 to 1".

Posted by: ajj89 | Jan 17, 2008 4:00:01 AM

Good heavens! I cannot believe that a candidate is saying "Get married first!"
what refreshing and wise advise to the youth of ths country.I was very undecided until i heard that. I like that message. Mr. Romney, you have my vote!

Posted by: Jojones | Jan 17, 2008 9:18:02 AM

I can't believe we have a candidate that DOES go up there and say such things. Maybe if the schools taughts teens about RESPONSIBLE sex and BIRTH CONTROL, there'd be less teen and college-aged pregnancies.

I don't need a theocrat in office! Enough with Huckabee and Romney!

Posted by: Lisa | Jan 17, 2008 11:34:24 AM

I'm not sure why Romney's victory in Michigan is any less significant than the others either. McCain has deep ties to New Hampshire and Huckabee has a religious base in Iowa.

I'm not sure if Romney will win the nomination, but he is leading in the delegate count. Even if you disagree with him, no one can deny the fact that he has brought positive change to the organizations he has been involved in.

Posted by: Dave | Jan 17, 2008 11:55:20 AM

Hilary and Obama have spent more than Romney. Why does the Media only talk about Romney's money.

Also, I did hear Romney mention 6 or 7 specific points about what's broken in Washington.

Why can't the media stand someone who actually has a great family???

Posted by: Fair | Jan 17, 2008 4:32:39 PM

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