Bulletin: The California Republican Assembly, CRA, has just endorsed Mitt Romney for president at it’s convention in Sacramento. Announcement follows:
Subj: CRA Endorses Mitt Romney for President
Date: 11/11/2007 7:32:09 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: admin@californiarepublicanassembly.com
To: lgpwr@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)
November 11, 2007
CRA Overwhelmingly Endorses Mitt Romney for President
SACRAMENTO – California’s oldest and largest Republican volunteer organization, the California Republican Assembly, endorsed Mitt Romney for President this weekend during the group’s annual convention held in Sacramento, California.
“Mitt Romney has been steadily gaining support from conservatives throughout California,” said CRA President Mike Spence following the endorsement vote.
Romney received the required two-thirds vote of delegates to obtain the endorsement.
In a nominating speech, former Assemblyman Tony Strickland urged CRA members to vote for Romney as “the best candidate to fight for critical conservative issues and to defeat Hillary Clinton in November.”
Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, is one of several candidates who have openly courted CRA delegates. In a September 2006 meeting with CRA members, Romney made a solid conservative presentation touching on a number of bellweather issues from taxes, to gay marriage and stem cell research.
In the first vote, all of the major Republican candidates were placed in nomination. Romney won 139 of 230 votes cast. Fred Thompson was second with 30 votes. Rudy Guiliani received only 6 votes, with the other candidates rounding out the votes.
Under CRA rules, candidates who did not receive at least ten percent of the votes cast were dropped from subsequent ballots. In the second ballot, Romney defeated Thompson 148-73.
As a former unit president of the CRA, and with fellow believers at church, I am in contact with many Republican conservatives in south Orange County. Basically we find solid support on several of the candidates but struggle to find “one size fits all” as it relates to all of the key policy issues.
The low voter approval by the CRA of Rudy is not a surprise based on his position on gay rights and abortion.
According to my calendar we are now inside the final three months to our primary.
Stay tuned! The fat lady is not even in the house.
I really cannot believe that a Christian group would not be backing Ron Paul. Here Dr. Paul’s statment of faith is:
Statement of Faith
By Rep. Ron Paul, MD.
The Covenant News ~ July 21, 2007
We live in times of great uncertainty when men of faith must stand up for our values and our traditions lest they be washed away in a sea of fear and relativism. As you likely know, I am running for President of the United States, and I am asking for your support.
I have never been one who is comfortable talking about my faith in the political arena. In fact, the pandering that typically occurs in the election season I find to be distasteful. But for those who have asked, I freely confess that Jesus Christ is my personal Savior, and that I seek His guidance in all that I do. I know, as you do, that our freedoms come not from man, but from God. My record of public service reflects my reverence for the Natural Rights with which we have been endowed by a loving Creator.
I have worked tirelessly to defend and restore those rights for all Americans, born and unborn alike. The right of an innocent, unborn child to life is at the heart of the American ideal of liberty. My professional and legislative record demonstrates my strong commitment to this pro-life principle.
In 40 years of medical practice, I never once considered performing an abortion, nor did I ever find abortion necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. In Congress, I have authored legislation that seeks to define life as beginning at conception, H.R. 1094. I am also the prime sponsor of H.R. 300, which would negate the effect of Roe v Wade by removing the ability of federal courts to interfere with state legislation to protect life. This is a practical, direct approach to ending federal court tyranny which threatens our constitutional republic and has caused the deaths of 45 million of the unborn. I have also authored H.R. 1095, which prevents federal funds to be used for so-called “population control.” Many talk about being pro-life. I have taken and will continue to advocate direct action to restore protection for the unborn.
I have also acted to protect the lives of Americans by my adherence to the doctrine of “just war.” This doctrine, as articulated by Augustine, suggested that war must only be waged as a last resort— for a discernible moral and public good, with the right intentions, vetted through established legal authorities (a constitutionally required declaration of the Congress), and with a likely probability of success.
It has been and remains my firm belief that the current United Nations-mandated, no-win police action in Iraq fails to meet the high moral threshold required to wage just war. That is why I have offered moral and practical opposition to the invasion, occupation and social engineering police exercise now underway in Iraq. It is my belief, borne out by five years of abject failure and tens of thousands of lost lives, that the Iraq operation has been a dangerous diversion from the rightful and appropriate focus of our efforts to bring to justice to the jihadists that have attacked us and seek still to undermine our nation, our values, and our way of life.
I opposed giving the president power to wage unlimited and unchecked aggression, However, I did vote to support the use of force in Afghanistan. I also authored H.R. 3076, the September 11 Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001. A letter of marque and reprisal is a constitutional tool specifically designed to give the president the authority to respond with appropriate force to those non-state actors who wage aggression against the United States while limiting his authority to only those responsible for the atrocities of that day. Such a limited authorization is consistent with the doctrine of just war and the practical aim of keeping Americans safe while minimizing the costs in blood and treasure of waging such an operation.
On September 17, 2001, I stated on the house floor that “…striking out at six or eight or even ten different countries could well expand this war of which we wanted no part. Without defining the enemy there is no way to know our precise goal or to know when the war is over. Inadvertently more casual acceptance of civilian deaths as part of this war I’m certain will prolong the agony and increase the chances of even more American casualties. We must guard against this if at all possible.” I’m sorry to say that history has proven this to be true.
I am running for president to restore the rule of law and to stand up for our divinely inspired Constitution. I have never voted for legislation that is not specifically authorized by the Constitution. As president, I will never sign a piece of legislation, nor use the power of the executive, in a manner inconsistent with the limitations that the founders envisioned.
Many have given up on America as an exemplar for the world, as a model of freedom, self-government, and self-control. I have not. There is hope for America. I ask you to join me, and to be a part of it.
Sincerely,
Ron Paul
And for all of you who call your selves “Reagan Republicans,” I would like you to take a few minutes and listen to the Reagan speach on the attached web site and tell me why you will not support the only candidate who expreses the views of Reagan. Ron Paul was one of only 4 Repulican congressmen to support Reagan’s initial run for the President. The guy is right on every issue. It is amazing.
http://www.ronpaulforpresident2008.com/news/
Thanks Larry, that is welcome news. Hopefully this will reinvigorate Mitt Romney’s campaign here in California and allow him to win the GOP nomination so we can absolutely crush him in the General Election.
email response:
Haha! — I thought the CRA was a conservative organization!
As a Massachusetts native who still has family, friends and property
there and goes back to visit regularly, I have to tell you the CRA
got snookered.