EXCLUSIVE: Townhall.com sits down with Gov. Romney

By Mary Katharine Ham

Friday, April 20, 2007

Mary Katharine Ham: Thanks, Gov. Romney, for taking some time to hang out with us at Townhall today. I’m in D.C. Where are you today?

• Governor Mitt Romney I’m in Iowa City, IA, which is the home of the University of Iowa, and I just met with 3 or 400 people who were interested in what I’m up to, so it’s a pretty exciting time.

• Governor Mitt Romney Well, I hope that at some point there’s a level of care and responsibility that’s gonna be shown by the members of the mainstream media not to in any way encourage copycat-type activity. And, the attention being given Mr. Cho is, I think, beyond any reasonable level. I certainly wish we could have been far more discreet in what we decide to show the world and keep these copycats from popping up all over the country.

I’d rather show a lot more coverage of people like Liviu Librescu, the fellow who barred the door to keep the gunman from getting to his students. These are the kind of stories we should be hearing.

Mary Katharine Ham: Now, one of your claims to fame is that you came into the Utah Olympics and turned around the security situation. Lots of folks are talking about security changes that need to happen on college campuses in light of this. Do you have any thoughts on what those might be and what, if any, role the federal government should be playing in making them happen?

• Governor Mitt Romney Well, every time something bad happens in the country, there are some folks who say, ‘OK, there oughtta be a federal law put in place to change it.’ And, I’d rather start by saying let’s let individual states and communities decide what they think is best.

• Governor Mitt Romney I realize people will always take the occasion of a major news event to push their agenda. There are people in this country who fundamentally believe that people in our country should not be allowed to have guns. They’re wrong. The Second Amendment protects the rights of individual citizens to bear arms to protect themselves, and I will defend the Second Amendment. I think efforts to politicize this tragedy are mistaken and misdirected.

Mary Katharine Ham: Now, you supported an assault weapons ban in Massachusetts. This tragedy is being used to push the renewal of the federal assault weapons ban. What would your stance be if that comes up again?

• Governor Mitt Romney Well, you know, the weapon used here was not an assault weapon, so I’m not sure what the relevance is. And, that’s what we have to recognize. The people who want to remove Second Amendment rights will look for everything they can. You know, if there’s a weapon that puts our police at risk, like machine guns, of course, then that’s something I would, of course, consider. But, look, we’ve gotta fundamentally recognize the need to protect the right to bear arms and the fact that there are people who are trying to remove that right inch by inch, and we’re gonna have to defend against that.

• Governor Mitt Romney Well, first of all it shows a remarkable lack of understanding by Harry Reid. The first phase of the war, the war to knock down Saddam Hussein was won by the United States, solidly, handily, decidedly, and Harry Reid is simply wrong. We won the war to take down Saddam Hussein, and to remove a sponsor of terror.

We’re now in a stage of conflict, which is to help the Iraqi people rebuild their own country. That’s a long process. The jury is out on that. But for him to come out and say we lost the war shows a lack of understanding of the fact that we won taking out Saddam Hussein.

And, secondly, it shows that he just doesn’t understand the nature of the conflict, which we currently are engaged in. And, I go back and think about George Washington. Can you imagine how different our nation would have been if, when the troops were having a tough time at Valley Forge, he just said, “well, we’ve lost.” Or, if Winston Churchill, when the British citizens were hiding in subway tubes, if he said, “Well, we’ve lost.” That is not the American way.

I’m afraid there are some Democrats who can’t get the word victory or success out of their lips. They see loss behind every corner, and instead of looking for our successes and our achievements, they’re always looking for the losses.

Shame on Harry Reid for saying something which will be dispiriting for our troops, and used as propaganda and rallying cries for jihadists around the world.

Mary Katharine Ham: What are you hearing from Iowans about it?

The response I’ve had as I’ve made my comments about Harry Reid’s comments today in the three venues where I spoke, was overwhelmingly positive. The largest applause I received was talking about the misguided words that he used to say that America has lost. Did he not remember that we did knock down Saddam Hussein’s government? Has he forgotten that? It’s really a remarkable lack of understanding.

Mary Katharine Ham: Speaking of Harry Reid, he and the Dems are also cooking up abortion legislation this week in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the partial-birth abortion ban.

• Governor Mitt Romney I was pleased with the decision, of course, to permit states to outlaw partial birth abortion. But it underscored something else. Four justices disagreed with the majority. And that means that if the next president were to be a Democrat like Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, and they appoint more judges like the four who were in the minority, they would say, in effect, that there’s a constitutional right to partial-birth abortion. Late-term, very late term abortion, which is simply a very offensive practice, and it simply underscores the importance of electing a conservative Republican to be the next president.

• Governor Mitt Romney Well, first of all, the places where I’ve spent my time—like I am today in Iowa City, Jackson County, and in Jones County—these are the places where the first primaries and caucuses are held, and the polls here are very encouraging. The New Hampshire poll, for instance, two weeks ago that Zogby put out, had me tied for first place.

The poll that the University of Iowa did just last week has us all in a statistical dead heat for first place, so I’m doing well in the early primary states, which are the ones that count to get the momentum going.

And, of course, I’m not a household name. Not at this point. Win a couple of these primaries, and I become a household name pretty darn quickly. But early on, of course the names people will know, and will acknowledge in the polls, are the names that have become famous from the past. And I anticipate becoming famous by virtue of my message. It’s a message that is catching on across the states that have spread it, and I expect that more and more people in this country will come to my camp and I’m gonna win this thing.

Mary Katharine Ham: I’ve been reading this week about your ability to tap new donors. Now, that’s something that always gets politicos talking. Hillary and Obama were the ones who were supposed to tap new donors and new constituencies, and yet you’ve come out as a bit of surprise in your ability to do it. Tell me about how that happens.

• Governor Mitt Romney Well, we’re really pleased with the message that I’ve been able to carry to people throughout the country. We got fundraising from all 50 states in the country. I’ve gone after young people. I’ve gone after some old folks, like myself, that is. I just turned 60. I’ve gone after our veterans, and we’re bringing people into my camp that are really allowing me to get the kind of support I need to win these primaries.

• Governor Mitt Romney Traditionally, everyone has assumed that the way to build support in a political sense is to cotton to the mainstream media. But the truth is, if you want to get support among young voters, increasingly, they don’t get the newspaper. They get their news from the Internet, from the web.

And, as a result, a major part of my effort is to make sure we’re communicating with young people, that we’re getting our message across to people who get their information in new and more up-to-date manners. And so, yeah, we have a very active effort. My son Tagg is one of those who plays a leading role to make sure we’re up-to-date with what we’re doing and we’re gonna continue to get our message out through the Internet. I spend a lot of time with folks that are bloggers and webcasters, and I want to make sure that we’re connecting to all Americans, not just the people who read the New York Times.

Mary Katharine Ham: Now, in the past, McCain has suggested he’d have blogger conference calls as president. What would be the role of bloggers in a Romney administration. Conference calls, White House press passes. We’re always curious about things like that.

• Governor Mitt Romney The truth is that I haven’t spent enough time to lay out a media strategy yet for what I would do if I were president. But clearly, it’s important for a president and important for a political party and an administration to communicate with the people of the nation. And, there’s a lot of folks that just don’t get newspapers anymore, don’t watch the TV evening news, and their information comes from the Internet, from blogs and from other webcasts. And, we’re gonna have to find the very best way to communicate with those that are getting the message out.

• Governor Mitt Romney You know, I’m sure I do. There’s probably more than one, but I’ve never liked people who engage in too much whining, so I’ll skip telling you about the worst that’s happened.

Mary Katharine Ham: One last quick one for you. Who has the best hair? You, Sanjaya, or John Edwards?

• Governor Mitt Romney** Well, that’s quite a grouping. I’ll tell you one thing. I don’t spend $400 to get mind cut, so it’s not a comparison I’d like to make. I’d just like to keep as much of it as I can.”

Mary Katharine Ham is the managing editor for Townhall.com.