Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ann Romney rallies women voters in Reno

ann romney

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ann Romney, wife of presidential candidate Mitt Romney, addresses the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012.

In a concerted effort aimed at closing the gender gap, Ann Romney capped a parade of women speakers at a rally here today who sought to vouch for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s sincerity, devotion to equal treatment of women in the workplace and compassion for those in need.

“One thing I know about Mitt is how capable he is,” Ann Romney told the crowd gathered at an outdoor amphitheater. “I’m here to talk to you about, not the competency, it’s about the caring piece of Mitt. I am the person who knows him best. I can tell you this man cares, that he’s got a good heart and that he does things for the right reason.”

In a 12-minute speech reminiscent of the address she gave at the Republican National Convention, Ann Romney described her husband as a father who sought to model for his children a life of action.

“This is how you live your life,” Ann Romney said, describing the family’s many trips to the hospital to visit the dying teen-age son of a family friend. “You don’t talk. You go and do.”

Ann Romney’s job on the campaign trail has been to personalize her husband, who has had some troubles connecting with voters on that level.

She also serves as the campaign’s ambassador to female voters, a voting bloc Republicans have had some difficulty winning over this election cycle. Polls show President Barack Obama leads among women in Nevada by as much as nine points.

Before Ann Romney took the stage, two women who worked as organizers for the 2002 Winter Olympics spoke of Mitt Romney’s character as a boss.

Caroline Shaw-- who described herself as a corporate executive, a working mother and a “lifelong Democrat”—said Mitt Romney made sure to give his employees time to tend to their families.

And she said he gave her a pay raise when he discovered she made less than the men working on her team.

“I have never had a boss do that before,” Shaw said. “Mitt Romney is a man who believes in women.”

As the campaign trail hurtles toward the closing weeks of the election, Ann Romney also sought to build the case that her husband would be better to helm an economic turnaround than Obama.

“With unemployment this high, with this jobless recovery,” she said. “It’s time to fire the coach.”

And she appealed to Nevada voters, who, she remarked, are suffering from the nation’s highest unemployment rate.

“We need to win this state, we have to win this state and we will win this state,” she said.

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