I'm not in any way, shape or form a Romney supporter, and I have Free Republic to thank for waking me up to just how bad Romney's publicly stated views on abortion really were when running for governor. With views like that, he can't be trusted.
Also, I've had no contact with anyone from the Romney campaign either this year or even in 2008. I did interview then-Sen. Joe Biden shortly before the 2008 general elections when the Obama campaign was trying to win rural Missouri, and I treated him fairly, just as I would with any other candidate running for office. However, none of the Republican candidates paid attention to our county in the 2008 elections and it looks like David Limbaugh's speech to a Republican event next weekend may be the closest we'll get to Republican presidential campaign involvement in our area this primary season.
That's way different from what I was used to in Iowa when you couldn't get presidential candidates to stay away from newspaper offices if you tried, but obviously rural Missouri is much less important than rural Iowa in the presidential campaign.
I hate that...really, really hate it. There should be a law against east-coast liberals always setting the momentum for every election. We have moderate Iowa, followed by liberal NH, then a conservative state, followed by another liberal FLA, setting the momentum every election year. That is not balanced in my opinion.
Very insightful posts.