MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.? Just in case anyone wasn?t clear that Bob McDonnell was interested in being picked for the GOP ticket this year, the Virginia governor came here Saturday to help seed the talk.
One week before South Carolina?s primary, McDonnell ? not formally a candidate for anything, but whose aspirations for the national stage are no secret ? flew in Saturday for a town hall meeting with freshman Rep. Tim Scott, a tea party favorite.
Continue ReadingHe spent nearly an hour touting his accomplishments and attacking President Barack Obama.
?We need a leader that wants to put in place results-oriented conservatism,? McDonnell told a friendly crowd of more than 150 huddled for warmth at the outdoor event. ?That is: Stick to your conservative guns but quit making excuses. Just get things done.?
McDonnell succeeded Rick Perry as chairman of the RGA when he stepped down to run for president last August. Being RGA chairman has offered a handy justification for traveling around the country increasing his visibility. The Missouri Republican Party announced this week that he?ll keynote their Lincoln-Day dinner next month. More speaking engagements will be announced soon.
Though he has not endorsed in the presidential race, he reiterated Saturday that he thinks the party should choose a governor ? narrowing the choices to Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman.
?That?s exactly the kind of leadership that you need,? he said, touting the experience a state executive has at balancing budgets.
McDonnell spent most of the time highlighting his own background: Telling the crowd that his family regularly vacationed here in the 1960s and ?70s. As ?an aside? to a question about offshore drilling, he noted that he?s the son of an Army officer, that he served 21 years himself and that his daughter spent a year in Iraq as a platoon officer.
McDonnell?s approval rating is in the high 50s. On his coattails, Republicans just captured control of the state House and Senate for the second time in the state?s history.
The governor could be attractive to Romney by offsetting some of his biggest weaknesses. He?s a Southerner in a party dominated by Southerners, and popular in a traditionally Republican state that went for Barack Obama in 2008. A fiscal conservative focused on jobs creation in the governor?s office, McDonnell made a name for himself as a state legislator and his state?s attorney general as a social conservative ? which gives him credibility with evangelicals.
Plus, he?s been building a national fundraising network through his RGA position. But mindful of the criticism that McDonnell?s predecessor Tim Kaine engendered for all the time he spent out of state while simultaneously serving as governor and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, aides note that the South Carolina event and other out-of-state engagements have been on Saturdays.
This one was a love fest for McDonnell ? that repeatedly drove home the point.
Celebrity focus group convener Frank Luntz introduced McDonnell as ?a future vice president of the United States of America.? The crowd cheered. McDonnell smiled.
The first question from the audience addressed McDonnell as ?Mr. Vice President.?
?He may just be the balancing act necessary to bring the White House back to our side because he might be our next vice president,? Scott said. ?You never know. Perhaps.?
?I like to get used to the new titles and give him an opportunity to warm up to it,? he added.
McDonnell smiled again.
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