NN&V Exclusive
(Lori Piotrowski) – Blazing afternoon sun and temperatures in the 90s didn’t deter hundreds of people from turning out to hear Governor Mitt Romeny, Lt. Governor Brian Krolicki, and Governer Tim Pawlenty yesterday. All were on hand to open Nevada’s “Romney for President” offices in the southwestern Las Vegas Valley.
Attendees parked up and down Oquendo and Santa Margarita, walking blocks to fill in the office suites’ parking lot with a standing-room only crowd.
Krolicki warmed the crowd further when he commented, “You’d think the next president of the United States is here today! Now I know why there is no parking.”
Backing a different candidate than his superior, Krolicki, said, “Romney has been a part of Nevada for many years. He knows us, he knows our people, our issues. With your help, this man is going to be the president of the United States!”
Romney initially addressed the crowd and international media by remarking that Pawlenty, who is stumping with him, was caught in traffic. Speaking of Krolicki, he said, “He looks so much like Tim Pawlenty, we’ve asked him to stand in.”
He quickly got to the point of the afternoon’s event. “You’re here not because things are going great, but because they will be once I’m president. Now we know what happens when we elect someone without experience!”
Romney counted off the reasons Obama does not deserve Nevada’s votes: Obamacare, Cap and Trade, and Dodd-Frank were three. “We have a decline in income of 10%. Someone who knows the economy and jobs can get people back to work,” he explained.
The presidential candidate ribbed Obama about his work ethic, too. “When home values decline, he isn’t working. When jobs are still being lost, he isn’t working.”
Romney called on voters’ patriotism to pull the country out of its decline. “The U.S. is the most productive nation anywhere on earth. We’re a patriotic people. We believe in the future.”
“This is what gives me hope.”
Evidently traffic had cleared enough for Tim Pawlenty to arrive and take the parking-lot stage.
“Are you fed up with 13% unemployment? Are you fed up with a man elected to office on a promise that he could cut the deficit in half and instead tripled it? Are you fed up with business having the president squeezing its windpipe with regulations? Are you ready for Mitt Romney to be the next president?”
The last week has seen Nevada voters get beat up by presidential candidates threatening to boycott its caucus. Pawlenty encouraged them to vote and get out their neighbors’ votes as well: “Nevada has the ability to swing the election. You have an open invitation to come in to these headquarters. Bring your friends—talk to them, and they will listen to you.”
The outside crowd adjourned for a tour of the second floor office suite where they were welcome to drinks and pizza. But, as Krolicki had said earlier, “It’s not Godfather’s pizza.”
The Romney campaign headquarters are located at 6830 W. Oquendo, Suite 201, Las Vegas, NV 89118.
