DeMint Working Hard To Sell Romney To Conservatives; Other Romney Updates
By Eric Kleefeld | bio
As we reported earlier today, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint has endorsed Mitt Romney, and DeMint is already emerging as a key defender of Romney to social conservatives who are having doubts about him. Case in point: A new interview that DeMint has just given to the National Review Byron York.
In the interview DeMint, a hero to social conservatives, addresses one of Romney's most pressing problems — his change of heart on abortion — and makes the rather creative case that Romney's shift on the issue should make him more attractive to conservatives, not less. From the interview:
"I think he came by his previous position honestly," DeMint says — continuing through his study of genetic research and the question of when life begins. "He feels passionately that the value of human life begins at conception," DeMint says. "The idea that he might have changed his mind is very appealing to me, because we're not going to win that debate unless people change their minds and think it through."
Emphasis added. It's an interesting argument — a classic effort to turn a negative (Romney's apparent flip-flopping) into a positive (proof that he can change the minds of others, too). But will social conservatives buy it?
Update: In other key Romney news, former Massachusetts Governor William Weld is backing Romney rather than his friend Rudy Giuliani.
Meanwhile, the Romney camp reported today that their fundraising marathon yesterday netted them $6.5 million
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