Politics & Government

Campaign Rally Volunteers Want Romney To Tell It Like It Is

Volunteers at Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign rally in Sarasota say they hope the presidential candidate will provide more details on his plan and stop being nice.

As Gov. Mitt Romney polishes his speech for today's rally in Sarasota, volunteer workers eager to help at his campaign stop know exactly what the presidential candidate should say.

"I want Romney to take the gloves off — stop being Mr. Nice Guy," Paige Farr of Sarasota told Patch. "And don't apologize."

A small group of volunteers showed up to the rally's site at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Wednesday evening hoping to learn more details about Thursday's event, but were kind enough to stick around and talk to Patch about their thoughts on Romney's rally after the volunteer meeting was rescheduled. 

Find out what's happening in Sarasotawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sarasota resident Debbie Luque feels like volunteering at the Romney rally is "a national emergency" as she has never volunteered at a presidential campaign before.

Luque wants Romney "to be strong and don't apologize for what you said," referencing the comments made by Romney in a video leaked this week where he told a crowd in Boca Raton earlier this year that 47 percent of the country would vote for the president anyway as those folks are "dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims." 

Find out what's happening in Sarasotawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Mother Jones story spread through the media and politicians on both sides of the aisle criticized Romney for his comments, and Romney himself admitted that his remarks were "inelegant."

For Luque, she hopes that Romney comes out swinging in Sarasota about his comments in that video, strengthening his stance. 

"Just like Donald Trump said — own it," Luque said.

Farr attended Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign stop at Robarts Arena in 2008 and wanted to be a part of Romney's rally by volunteering. 

She believes that this campaign stop and the coverage it brings will be great for the city on a national level. 

"I think it's good for Sarasota because it tells the city and the county of Sarasota that they know that we count and we count very highly because we're a swing state," Farr said.

Jared Padgett of Sarasota will be pulling double duty today as he is volunteering both at the private fundraiser at The Ritz-Carlton and the Ringling rally.

The 19-year-old spends his time working for the Republican Party of Florida registering voters and updating voter information and wants to hear Romney touch on the $4.7 trillion of national debt that rose during President Barack Obama's first three years in office, as well as a myriad of issues.

"I want to hear about the security for our country. I want to hear about his plans for foreign aid," Padgett said. "He's been leveraging a lot on the economy, so I think he needs to take a step farther and focusing on other issues as well."

Padgett, Farr, Luque and dozens of volunteers are expected to report at 11 a.m. today for details for handling the crowd, but Luque doesn't mind the long day ahead.

"It'll be a good tired," she said. "All is good."


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