Romney tours area with an eye on '08
By Robynn Tysver / The Omaha World Herald / January 23, 2006
COUNCIL BLUFFS - Iraq is a vital front in the nation's war against jihadists, and withdrawing American troops would not end the war, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said.
The Republican, who is considering a 2008 presidential bid, made it clear in a trip Friday to Iowa and Nebraska that he backs the Iraq war and, more specifically, the war on terrorism.
Romney met with Republicans in Council Bluffs and attended a GOP dinner in Omaha.
Some people compare Iraq with Vietnam and want to believe that if the United States leaves Iraq, the war will be over, he said. That's not true, because the United States is fighting a global war, he said.
"The jihadists are waging a global war against the United States and Western governments generally with the ambition of replacing legitimate governments with a caliphate, with a theocracy," Romney said.
Friday's trip to Iowa was Romney's fourth to the state that is home to the nation's first presidential caucuses. Romney is one of more than a half-dozen Republicans testing the waters.
In Omaha, he was the keynote speaker at the Douglas County Republican Party's annual "The Elephant Remembers" event.
About 450 Republicans attended the dinner, including gubernatorial candidates Gov. Dave Heineman and U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne. Longtime Republican Gene Spence of Omaha was honored at the dinner.
Spence served as state finance chairman for the Nebraska GOP and was a candidate for governor in 1994 against Democrat Ben Nelson.
Romney, 58, said he realizes he has two "M's" to deal with if he makes a bid for president: his Mormon religion and his Massachusetts ties.
As for his religion, he said, it is his job to make sure people see him as more than just a Mormon. "My faith isn't very well-known and it's certainly not my job to change that. My job is to let people know what I stand for and what I believe," he said.
He also said the fact that he's a "conservative Republican" who was elected in Massachusetts - a traditionally Democratic bastion - "suggests almost anything can happen in America."
"Some may say, 'Oh, he's a Massachusetts liberal.' But when they find out I was a conservative Republican who took on the liberals and won, it becomes a badge of honor," Romney said.
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