muzzled dogg
03-10-2011, 09:17 PM
Mitt supporter loves Romneycare
By JAMES HOHMANN | 3/10/11 2:26 PM EST Updated: 3/10/11 7:44 PM EST
Health care may be Mitt Romney's biggest political liability, but the controversial program he enacted as Massachusetts governor actually helped earn him a key endorsement Thursday from a well-known moderate Republican activist in New Hampshire.
Ruth Griffin, who spent two decades on the state’s powerful Executive Council and two terms as a New Hampshire Republican National Committee member, said she really likes that Romney got insurance coverage for virtually everyone in his state.
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“No. 1, he’s a very capable man and being from New Hampshire, seeing what he did in Massachusetts with the health issues, it was a very successful approach for the people of Massachusetts,” she told POLITICO in a phone interview from her home in Portsmouth. “I think he had the right plan at the right time, and we certainly don’t have that on the federal level now.”
Her decision to back Romney is a blow to Mike Huckabee if he’s serious about running. She was one of the former Arkansas governor's most respected supporters in 2008, standing with him as he filed his candidacy papers in the New Hampshire secretary of state’s office.
“One of the main reasons ... was I felt we should give the young people a try at it,” she said of her support for Huckabee.
In 2012, Griffin sees a three-way race for New Hampshire with Romney as the front-runner. The two major competitors, in her view, will be former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
“Other than that, I don’t see any of these other wannabes making any full head of steam,” she said.
Griffin spent nearly two decades on her state’s health planning and review board, so she saw first-hand how hard it is to control costs (Romney’s program has led to increased costs, one of many objections critics level at it).
"I know that every new trinket that comes out, every hospital wants to get it,” she said. “Unless you’ve got the right boards and commissions to rein them in, you’re escalating the costs of health care.”
She discounted conservative criticisms of Romney’s plan for including an individual mandate on the grounds that he ultimately increased coverage levels.
Her points on health care certainly aren’t on message for Romney. In his first New Hampshire speech since the midterm elections, Romney said last Saturday that what he did in Massachusetts wasn’t perfect, and that there are some things he would have done differently. But, like Griffin in her POLITICO interview, he faulted the federal law for creating a national one-size-fits-all mandate. This, he argued, makes it fundamentally different from what he did.
The second reason Griffin said she’s backing Romney is that he has a “very successful marriage” and “wonderful children.” She’s been a guest at the Romney’s summer home in Wolfeboro, where she said she saw him practice the family values that he preaches.
“His kids have proved that they got the right education from their parents, starting their own families,” she said.
Griffin’s endorsement was first reported by WMUR’s James Pindell, a New Hampshire political authority who called Griffin “the matriarch of Seacoast Republicans.” Jim Merrill, who ran Romney’s 2008 New Hampshire campaign and will play a prominent role again in 2012, quickly touted the news on Twitter. Griffin said she’s in close touch with both Merrill and Tom Rath, the former state attorney general who played a key role in Romney’s 2008 effort.
She co-chaired George W. Bush’s steering committee in 2000, when he lost in an upset to underdog John McCain.
“I’ve been around for a long time and supported a lot of presidents who were successful,” she said. “And I hope this time, if things go right with this world, I will be right again.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51054.html#ixzz1GG0sCGkf
By JAMES HOHMANN | 3/10/11 2:26 PM EST Updated: 3/10/11 7:44 PM EST
Health care may be Mitt Romney's biggest political liability, but the controversial program he enacted as Massachusetts governor actually helped earn him a key endorsement Thursday from a well-known moderate Republican activist in New Hampshire.
Ruth Griffin, who spent two decades on the state’s powerful Executive Council and two terms as a New Hampshire Republican National Committee member, said she really likes that Romney got insurance coverage for virtually everyone in his state.
Continue Reading
“No. 1, he’s a very capable man and being from New Hampshire, seeing what he did in Massachusetts with the health issues, it was a very successful approach for the people of Massachusetts,” she told POLITICO in a phone interview from her home in Portsmouth. “I think he had the right plan at the right time, and we certainly don’t have that on the federal level now.”
Her decision to back Romney is a blow to Mike Huckabee if he’s serious about running. She was one of the former Arkansas governor's most respected supporters in 2008, standing with him as he filed his candidacy papers in the New Hampshire secretary of state’s office.
“One of the main reasons ... was I felt we should give the young people a try at it,” she said of her support for Huckabee.
In 2012, Griffin sees a three-way race for New Hampshire with Romney as the front-runner. The two major competitors, in her view, will be former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
“Other than that, I don’t see any of these other wannabes making any full head of steam,” she said.
Griffin spent nearly two decades on her state’s health planning and review board, so she saw first-hand how hard it is to control costs (Romney’s program has led to increased costs, one of many objections critics level at it).
"I know that every new trinket that comes out, every hospital wants to get it,” she said. “Unless you’ve got the right boards and commissions to rein them in, you’re escalating the costs of health care.”
She discounted conservative criticisms of Romney’s plan for including an individual mandate on the grounds that he ultimately increased coverage levels.
Her points on health care certainly aren’t on message for Romney. In his first New Hampshire speech since the midterm elections, Romney said last Saturday that what he did in Massachusetts wasn’t perfect, and that there are some things he would have done differently. But, like Griffin in her POLITICO interview, he faulted the federal law for creating a national one-size-fits-all mandate. This, he argued, makes it fundamentally different from what he did.
The second reason Griffin said she’s backing Romney is that he has a “very successful marriage” and “wonderful children.” She’s been a guest at the Romney’s summer home in Wolfeboro, where she said she saw him practice the family values that he preaches.
“His kids have proved that they got the right education from their parents, starting their own families,” she said.
Griffin’s endorsement was first reported by WMUR’s James Pindell, a New Hampshire political authority who called Griffin “the matriarch of Seacoast Republicans.” Jim Merrill, who ran Romney’s 2008 New Hampshire campaign and will play a prominent role again in 2012, quickly touted the news on Twitter. Griffin said she’s in close touch with both Merrill and Tom Rath, the former state attorney general who played a key role in Romney’s 2008 effort.
She co-chaired George W. Bush’s steering committee in 2000, when he lost in an upset to underdog John McCain.
“I’ve been around for a long time and supported a lot of presidents who were successful,” she said. “And I hope this time, if things go right with this world, I will be right again.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51054.html#ixzz1GG0sCGkf