By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
Strong support from Southwest Missouri could give former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a victory in the state’s Republican presidential primary in February 2008. That was the assertion of state Rep. Rod Jetton, speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives, at a Joplin lunch held to recruit Romney volunteers.
Jetton said he and state Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, met Romney after they were introduced by Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, who also is working for Romney’s campaign in Missouri.
Nodler, who is Seventh District coordinator for the Romney campaign, was at the luncheon, along with state Rep. Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City, who will serve as Romney’s Jasper County coordinator.
About 20 people attended the event, including some who had not decided which Republican candidate they will support.
“Jasper and Newton counties produce big margins for Republican candidates. Support here would help him take the state, and Missouri winner-take-all,” Jetton said.
He said he likes Romney because he is a social and fiscal conservative who has pledged to veto any budget that grows faster than inflation.
Nodler also noted Romney’s business background and management skills, which he said Romney used to address serious fiscal problems in Massachusetts and in planning for the Salt Lake City Olympics.
Jetton was spending the day making stops in Missouri with P.J. Wenzel, a regional director for the Romney campaign. Wenzel said Romney is leading in the polls in many of the early primary states, but said Midwestern states including Missouri “will be the battleground.”
Romney has been in Missouri at least twice in the last year, and Stevenson said the candidate tentatively is scheduled to be in Springfield on Oct. 1.
Primary
More than 20 states, including Missouri, will hold presidential preference primaries on Feb. 5, 2008.
