Four years ago, John McCain performed strongly in southwestern Virginia. If the reception Gov. Mitt Romney received yesterday in Salem is any indication, southwestern Virginia will be his best-performing region as well.
Southwestern Virginia’s economy is based largely on coal, as Alton Foley noted on Monday. Thus when candidates say stuff like this and push regulations that result in power plant closures like these, it’s understandable that an entire region cheers when a presidential candidate–even one the media say should be unable to connect with “ordinary Americans”–vows to use all of our nation’s energy resources “above and below the ground.”
Gov. Romney spoke to an enthusiastic crowd estimated to be between 1,000 and 2,000 strong at Salem’s Carter Machinery on Tuesday. Carter Machinery, one of the nation’s largest Caterpillar dealers, sells heavy equipment (including some coal mining operations in far southwestern Virginia), has been hit by the sluggish economy and uncertainty about the future of the coal industry. The stage was flanked by the equipment the company sells, equipment which Romney remarked after taking the podium, he wants to see being put back to work. His remark drew cheers from the crowd, many of whom were holding pro-coal signs.
For the next 20 minutes, Gov. Romney touched on everything from domestic energy production and the economy to healthcare and immigration, but one central issue resonated throughout the speech: the Obama Administration has been a failure that is now impeding America’s growth and progress.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the speech was Romney’s comment that President Obama wasted the first three-and-a-half years of his presidency by focusing on a potentially unconstitutional reform our our healthcare system instead of laying the groundwork for a much-needed economic recovery:
“As you know, the Supreme Court is going to be dealing with whether or not Obamacare is constitutional. If it’s not—if Obamacare is not deemed constitutional, then the first three and a half years of this President’s term will have been wasted on something that does not help the American people.”
Considering the unpopularity of Obamacare and that jobs and the economy register as the number one concern of voters in poll after poll, this argument can be a winner for Gov. Romney, even in swing states like Virginia with unemployment rates below the national average.
Lest anyone be concerned that Gov. Romney wants to see Obamacare upheld by the Court, he vowed to stop the law on day one of his administration if the Supreme Court does find it constitutional:
“If it is deemed to stand, then I’ll tell you one thing, we’re going to have to have a president, and I’m that one, that’s going to get rid of Obamacare and we’re going to stop it on day one. What we’re witnessing is a failure of the President’s policies.”
Romney then made the connection between two of President Obama’s first-term failures and their effect on the economy:
“He did not deal with immigration. With regards to Obamacare, he put that as a higher priority than our economy and as a result we have had forty straight months with unemployment above eight percent. The economy’s not working; immigration is not working. This President has not been working in the right way for the American people. It’s time for that to change.”
It’s clear from yesterday’s speech that Gov. Romney is not taking this election for granted. He’s unafraid to hit the president hard on an issue some said Romney would be unable to use in a general election campaign. He’s also employing targeted advertising to appeal to concerns unique to our Commonwealth’s voters and is visiting Virginia early and often.
His time and attention may well be beginning to pay dividends. A WeAskAmerica poll released on the day of Romney’s speech shows Gov. Romney holding a five-point lead over the incumbent president amongst Virginians. (The same poll also showed Gov. Allen holding a nine-point lead over Chairman Kaine.) While the actual margins may be somewhat narrower, one should be careful before completely dismissing this poll as an outlier. A mid-May WeAskAmerica poll of the Wisconsin recall election showed Gov. Scott Walker holding a commanding nine-point lead. The poll was skewered by Democrats as an outlier. As we all know now, Walker won by seven percentage points. WeAskAmerica could well be an outlier, or it could be the first to detect that there has been a clear momentum shift in the Commonwealth. Either way, fasten your seatbelts, Virginia, Campaign 2012 is on!
