Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts said in Richmond last night that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell and likely lieutenant governor nominee Bill Bolling have the experience to create jobs and strengthen the economy in Virginia.
Romney, a multimillionaire businessman and likely Republican presidential candidate in 2012, stopped in Richmond during the Republican Party of Virginia's nominating convention to help the party raise money at its annual Commonwealth Gala and to promote the candidacies of McDonnell and Bolling.
Today at the Richmond Coliseum, Republican delegates will pick nominees for lieutenant governor and attorney general. McDonnell is unopposed for the gubernatorial nomination. Delegates also will choose the chairman of the state GOP.
Romney said the national Republican Party, which suffered big losses last year and is going through an identity crisis, does not need to remake itself.
"I'm proud of our party; I'm proud of what its stands for," Romney said. "From time to time there will be setbacks, but those setbacks make us more energized."
Virginia and America "are a center-right state and a center-right nation," Romney continued.
Romney said he came to Virginia to help the running mates because Virginia and New Jersey have important gubernatorial elections this year that give the GOP an opportunity to win again. As for his own presidential ambitions, Romney said 2012 is too far in the future.
He sought the presidential nomination last year but withdrew before John McCain won the nomination. Bolling backed Romney in 2008.
A political-action committee financed by the Democratic Governors Association is airing ads attacking McDonnell as unfriendly to jobs creation and the working class. McDonnell joined other Virginia Republicans in opposing $125 million in federal stimulus money to expand eligibility for unemployment benefits to part-time workers and to laid-off workers training for new jobs.
McDonnell stood by his position last night, describing the PAC as an out-of-state group to which Virginians will not pay heed. McDonnell said the stimulus money would curtail job growth because when the federal money ran out employers would be reluctant to hire part-time workers.
The state convention opened at the Coliseum yesterday with all the trappings of a big-time convention: bright lights; thousands of signs; a red, white and blue podium; anti-Obama political buttons; and political operatives roaming the hallways searching for votes.
But only about 1,800 of the almost 11,000 delegates who had signed up for the convention were in their seats for the first day's activities. Most are expected to arrive today to vote for the nominations.
Most of the drama centered around the three-way race to nominate a candidate for attorney general. State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli of Fairfax County, Arlington County lawyer Dave Foster and former U.S. Attorney John Brownlee of Roanoke are competing for the nomination.
State political pundits consider Cuccinelli the front-runner, but if he does not win the nomination on the first ballot, one of the two others could slip in. Bolling, the current lieutenant governor, is a strong favorite to beat challenger Patrick Muldoon of Fairfax County and run a second time.
The state GOP chairman, Pat Mullins of Louisa County, was elected by the party's ruling body May 2 after Jeffrey M. Frederick of Prince William County was fired. Mullins is being opposed by Bill Stanley of Franklin County, who is running an anti-establishment campaign and is trying to mobilize people dissatisfied with Frederick's ouster.
Kay Coles James, an official in the George W. Bush administration and secretary of health and human resources under then-Gov. George Allen, who will serve as chairwoman of the convention. She said she grew up in a house at Sixth and Leigh streets, where the Coliseum now stands.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.
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