Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney threw his support behind Georgia Republican Karen Handel on Wednesday, the day after she finished first in the governor’s primary.
Romney joins former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in backing Handel, the former secretary of state who took 34 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s seven-way primary. She’ll face Nathan Deal, who took 23 percent of the vote, in the Aug.10 runoff. Deal, who resigned from Congress after nine terms in March to focus on his campaign, has the backing of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Romney joins former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in backing Handel, the former secretary of state who took 34 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s seven-way primary. She’ll face Nathan Deal, who took 23 percent of the vote, in the Aug.10 runoff. Deal, who resigned from Congress after nine terms in March to focus on his campaign, has the backing of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
“A successful businesswoman and public servant, Karen Handel’s blend of executive, political, and business experience is just what Georgia needs at this critical time,” Romney said in a statement. “The leadership skills that she has honed in both the private and public sectors will enable her to make tough decisions and enact the reforms needed to get the economy back on track and foster job creation.”
The former 2008 presidential candidate and possible 2012 GOP hopeful also donated $1,000 to Handel’s campaign.
Handel spokesman Dan McLagan told POLITICO they are hopeful Palin will campaign for Handel at some point during the runoff and the two camps are working to coordinate schedules now. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who also backed Handel in the primary, could also make an appearance with Handel on the trail.
But one group that won’t be lining up behind Handel is the Georgia Right to Life.
Despite earning Palin’s endorsement last week, the state’s pro-life chapter withheld their stamp of approval from Handel in the primary, and launched a blistering robocall on Monday urging voters not to pick the only female candidate in the race.
While they didn’t single out one candidate as their preference, they did endorse five candidates in the race as meeting thei pro-life threshold—Deal, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, state Senate President Eric Johnson and communications executive Ray McBerry.
And now that it’s a two-person race, the group is firmly in Deal’s corner.
“I would say that we definitely will get involved as much as we can financially and throw our support behind Nathan Deal,” Melanie Crozier, executive director of the Georgia Right to Life political action committee, told POLITICO.
The pro-life organization took particular issue with Handel’s support for abortions in the case of rape and incest and said she didn’t support enough restrictions to in vitro fertilization.
Because of those positions, Crozier said her organization was surprised by Palin’s endorsement, but said it was just another example of Palin trying to pick a winning female candidate.
“[Palin] has a son with Down’s Syndrome, and under Karen Handel’s laws, Handel would have felt like it was ok to go in and abort that child,” said Crozier. “But when you look at Sarah Palin’s pattern—going out finding mainly women candidates that were in the lead and endorsing them, that’s not really a surprise. She saw Handel had a decent lead, so I think she sort of jumped on the bandwagon.”
Crozier said the field has the potential to shift, and believes the other candidates they endorsed will line up behind Deal “because he is the true conservative.”
Handel’s campaign was quick out of the gate Wednesday with a memo touting her advantages heading into the three-week runoff stretch, reminding reporters that no modern state second-place finisher has ever leaped ahead to win the runoff when the difference was larger than 1.2 percent, and noted only two runners-up had won in the past 16 years.
McLagan said RTL’s resistance to Handel was “old news” and said the abortion exceptions she backs are in line with the National Right to Life.
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that Handel spokesman Dan McLagan said Sarah Palin was likely to campaign for Handel. McLagen said they are hopeful Palin will campaign and they are working to coordinate schedules.
http://www.politico.com//news/stories/0710/40047.html
The former 2008 presidential candidate and possible 2012 GOP hopeful also donated $1,000 to Handel’s campaign.
Handel spokesman Dan McLagan told POLITICO they are hopeful Palin will campaign for Handel at some point during the runoff and the two camps are working to coordinate schedules now. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who also backed Handel in the primary, could also make an appearance with Handel on the trail.
But one group that won’t be lining up behind Handel is the Georgia Right to Life.
Despite earning Palin’s endorsement last week, the state’s pro-life chapter withheld their stamp of approval from Handel in the primary, and launched a blistering robocall on Monday urging voters not to pick the only female candidate in the race.
While they didn’t single out one candidate as their preference, they did endorse five candidates in the race as meeting thei pro-life threshold—Deal, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, state Senate President Eric Johnson and communications executive Ray McBerry.
And now that it’s a two-person race, the group is firmly in Deal’s corner.
“I would say that we definitely will get involved as much as we can financially and throw our support behind Nathan Deal,” Melanie Crozier, executive director of the Georgia Right to Life political action committee, told POLITICO.
The pro-life organization took particular issue with Handel’s support for abortions in the case of rape and incest and said she didn’t support enough restrictions to in vitro fertilization.
Because of those positions, Crozier said her organization was surprised by Palin’s endorsement, but said it was just another example of Palin trying to pick a winning female candidate.
“[Palin] has a son with Down’s Syndrome, and under Karen Handel’s laws, Handel would have felt like it was ok to go in and abort that child,” said Crozier. “But when you look at Sarah Palin’s pattern—going out finding mainly women candidates that were in the lead and endorsing them, that’s not really a surprise. She saw Handel had a decent lead, so I think she sort of jumped on the bandwagon.”
Crozier said the field has the potential to shift, and believes the other candidates they endorsed will line up behind Deal “because he is the true conservative.”
Handel’s campaign was quick out of the gate Wednesday with a memo touting her advantages heading into the three-week runoff stretch, reminding reporters that no modern state second-place finisher has ever leaped ahead to win the runoff when the difference was larger than 1.2 percent, and noted only two runners-up had won in the past 16 years.
McLagan said RTL’s resistance to Handel was “old news” and said the abortion exceptions she backs are in line with the National Right to Life.
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that Handel spokesman Dan McLagan said Sarah Palin was likely to campaign for Handel. McLagen said they are hopeful Palin will campaign and they are working to coordinate schedules.
http://www.politico.com//news/stories/0710/40047.html