Ann Romney tells a group of Republicans at a campaign rally at the Largo Community Center Sept. 12 that her husband is going to “turn the key to the economic engine and get this country going.”
LARGO – Ann Romney described her husband Mitt as a compassionate man who has been with her during her “darkest hours,” such as when she suffered from multiple sclerosis and breast cancer.
“He’s the kind of guy you can count on,” Romney said, speaking to a crowd of 450 people Wednesday during a Women for Mitt rally at the Largo Community Center, 400 Alternate Keene Road.
Hundreds more Romney supporters, waiting in line outside, were turned away because of fire safety standards pertaining to crowd capacity in the auditorium.
Romney said she has not had the “storybook marriage a lot of people think we have” because of her bouts with diseases.
“This family knows what it is like to be really out of hope, and who did I have standing next to me when I was in my darkest hour. I was feeling absolutely lost. And Mitt was there saying, ‘You know what, Ann, I don’t care how tough it gets, we are doing this together and I’m by your side and we’re going to be OK.’ ”
Speaking about high unemployment and people struggling, Romney said, “I know there are 23 million Americans that need his help.”
“Help is on the way,” she said, to loud applause and cheers.
She discussed deeds her husband has done when the television cameras aren’t on and no reporters are watching, such as being at the bedside of a friend’s son who is dying of leukemia.
Romney also said that Mitt got a telephone call on a cold winter day from a friend who said his daughter’s heat had just been shut off in Boston.
“What did Mitt do? Piled the boys in the car, piled a whole bunch of logs in the trunk. Filled the truck up. Went to her home, took food, got her through the night and in the morning he made sure there was money to pay her bills and get the heat turned back on,” she said.
Mitt isn’t the kind of person who talks about such experiences, she said, which has helped her children grow into “the most extraordinary young men.”
“[Mitt’s} going to be there for you; he’s going to be there for millions of Americans. He is going to be the one that’s going to turn the key to the economic engine and get this country going,” Romney said.
Also speaking was Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, the chair of Florida Women for Mitt.
Bondi roused the audience when she said she was “so sick of hearing about this anti-women” references about the Republican Party.
“Mitt Romney’s lieutenant governor was a women, his chief of staff was a woman. He put women in high-ranking positions in all of his businesses, and the woman he respects more than any in the world is Ann Romney,” Bondi said.
She called Ann Romney kind and compassionate and “yet she is tough, and she is brilliant and she is going to make one heck of a first lady.”
Attendees at the event, brandishing campaign placards and buttons and American flags, were enthusiastic about Romney’s election bid in November.
Belinda Jones drove from Dade City to hear Ann Romney speak.
“I think we have a great chance,” she said.
Robin Mayo of Clearwater said she has been involved in the Republican Party “in wanting to change this country back to a different time. Priority –– I’m a fiscal conservative. I’ve worked on the Marco Rubio campaign for a year. I did meet Mitt Romney on the campaign trail during that time. He has been very helpful to a lot of Senate and congressional candidates over the years, since 2008.”
“I’m very excited about Ann Romney coming to town. It’s thrilling,” said Brent Narrog of Pinellas Park. “There are a lot of people here. We have an overflow crowd. We have people outside. We are going to win this election.”
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