McDonnell endorsing Romney ahead of S.C. primary

The Virginian Pilot ^ | 1/20/12 | Julian Walker

[wolfman23601]

Gov. Bob McDonnell said this morning that he's endorsing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney today before heading to South Carolina to campaign for the Republican presidential candidate ahead of the Palmetto State's primary Saturday.

Virginia's governor discussed his endorsement of Romney on CNBC's show, "Squawk Box," and planned additional interviews with CNN and FOX News.

Those interviews coincide with McDonnell's travel to New York City for a economic development meeting this morning.

The governor will head to South Carolina this afternoon for a rally in Charleston and remain in the state into Saturday for other Romney campaign events tonight and tomorrow in Greenville.

McDonnell, a potential vice presidential contender, is offering his endorsement as the presidential primary field narrows. Texas Gov. Rick Perry withdrew from the race Thursday and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman dropped out before that.

In endorsing Romney, McDonnell joins a number of fellow Virginia Republicans who already offered their endorsement to the candidate. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling is chairman of Romney's Virginia campaign.

Virginia's Republican presidential primary election is set for March 6. Only Romney and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul qualified for the ballot.

[palmer]

I always presumed he was holding out because he was partial to Rick Perry

McDonnell endorsed Perry right out of the box. Then Perry peaked and started his slide and McDonnell didn't say much after that. Hopefully his new endorsement will have the same effect on Romney.

[DarthVader]

Bob stepped into into this time with the conservative base and is going to take some heat. I don’t think his endorsement is going to mean much in SC especially after last night.

[muawiyah]

Yup ~ and he doesn't watch the debates either.

Typical of your older sort of Republicans in the Souf' they simply cannot imagine that anything can go on outside the small shell of their inner circle.

This is part of the problem with the Republican party in the Souf' ~ too many traditionalists still run it.

We need a serious purge. Bring in modern people. Modern minds. Forward looking folks who view the Republican party as something other than a refuge from the Democrats.

We need a CREDENTIALS CHALLENGE and somebody there to pull that off.

[muawiyah]

McDonnell was undoubtedly part of the deal to freeze out all the candidates but Romney from the primary ballot.

He can't be trusted.

[muawiyah]

Historically speaking toll roads ARE the American way. These Socialist roads are going to disappear in the near future ~ they'll be replaced with super scientific, utterly fantastic tracking systems that charge you highway access fees/road taxes automatically.

Give it 10 years.

[muawiyah]

With both Santorum and Gingrich being residents of Virginia, the only way anybody in Virginia gets picked to run as Vice President is ............ ROMNEY!

They don't even need to like the guy to go through that computation.

[ScottinVA]

McDonnell was undoubtedly part of the deal to freeze out all the candidates but Romney from the primary ballot.

I'm not ready to make that assumption. What IS sure is that the candidates should've had people here on the ground to ensure they had enough signatures to get onto the ballot in the first place. For all their faults, Romney and Paul did their homework.

[Nickname]

Stick it to him and vote Paul in the primary!

[muawiyah]

It's not an assumption. Let me go further ~ here's where your whole gang gives up the political ghost and their keys to their offices clatter to the floor ~ the guy who Newt hired to collect signatures ~ and who faked just enough of them to deprive him of his state required 10,000 signatures ~ was probably in cohoots with the Romney crowd in Virginia. That includes McDonnell, Bolling and probably Mullins.

People will go to prison.

Remember, it wasn't until he turned in 15,000+ signatures that the Party set a 15,000 cutoff above which signatures would not be validated.

It's really more than suspicious ~ IT'S EVIDENCE!

[CatherineofAragon]

You know what, my husband and I were planning on doing just that. But the other day, a Freeper posted that some of Romney’s people have been working for Paul all along, and plan on trying to throw his delegates to Paul. I don’t want to help land that nutcase in the White House :::shudder:::.