The Associated Press reports today that Fort Morgan’s own Rep. Marilyn Musgrave is urging presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain to add his former primary rival Mitt Romney to the ticket as vice president.
Musgrave says she admires Romney’s "real-word experience" as a businessman and for his management of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. The Republican congresswoman believes Romney will gain the support of social conservatives, who sometimes have been cool to McCain.
Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Romney is the odds-on favorite of the Republican punditocracy to shore up McCain’s perceived weaknesses among two principle voting blocs — so-called "values voters" who distrust his lack of street cred on conservative religious issues and everybody else concerned about the Arizona senator’s advanced age. If he wins in November, McCain would be 72 years old at his inauguration and the oldest person to ever be elected president. By contrast, Romney would be a youthful 62 — not even eligible yet for Medicare.
Romney received a rousing welcome at the Colorado Republican convention Saturday where he stumped for McCain.
However, Musgrave’s support of Romney for veep isn’t exactly a risk-taking venture on her part. In the Colorado GOP caucus held on Feb. 5, Romney won 15 of the 18 counties in Musgrave’s district, and tied with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in one. McCain was outdistanced by Romney by double digits in nearly every CD 4 county contest.
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