After months of public denials, a quote in Wednesday’s Spartanburg Herald-Journal may be a solid indicator that acerbic New Jersey native and controversial Spartanburg GOP Chairman Rick Beltram has pledged his support to former-Gov. Mitt Romney in the presidential primary.
“Romney still needs to convince voters, before Fred Thompson gets into the race… that he is the conservative answer to the GOP nominating process,” Spartanburg County Republican Party Chairman Rick Beltram said. “I’m hoping that he’s starting to see, for his sake, more significant traction.” [JASON SPENCER - Spartanburg Herald-Journal]
Party chairs are often expected to remain neutral during primaries as they represent the GOP rather than any particular candidate. And with one of the largest conservative-voting bases in the state, Spartanburg is vital to winning South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary. By backing Romney, Beltram risks destroying the credibility his position brings.
Back in March, Beltram caught flak for his embarrassing mismanagement of the Spartanburg Straw Poll - which appeared to many campaigns to be rigged for Romney. He announced the wrong results live on FoxNews, only to sheepishly admit the next day he had “found” ballots at his home. The real winner - Sen. John McCain - was announced long after the national media had left Spartanburg.
Beltram appears to be fashioning himself as the heir apparent to current state GOP chairman Katon Dawson. Days before this year’s State Republican Convention, it was rumored that Beltram was speaking with Romney’s S.C. campaign manager about challenging Dawson’s re-election bid. The plan never reached fruition, by shed light on his personal ambition.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Around the state, Primary Season, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Well Spartanburg is not the only place where Chairs and Vice Chairs have used their power to support ROmney, It has happened throughout our state. I wonder what promises where made to get this done, and hasn’t ruined the credibility of those I am speaking of but then again their crediability was already questioned before that. Personally, I wouldn’t write anything about Romney’s campaign because with all of the staff he has he still has no chance of winning SC nor the nomination!
Some politicians will support who ever pays the most. Look at Clintons SC supporters, paid to be consultants.
Whoa?,… Romney will never get the nomination of the Republican Party? Huh,… what a poor prediction. It sounds that the antiMitts are getting nervous this time because, they thought that Mitt won’t survive for 6 months in his campaign, citing the various charges they thrown at him and the heavy pounding of the flip-flop issues.
And fast forward, today, where’s Mitt right now? He’s the consistent winner in the NH and IOWA polls, and probably, the victorious candidate in the Ames straw poll next month. Aside to it, his organization is getting stronger and stroger, supporters and backers are flocking to him daily. Endorsements are always read in the internet and comments are posted in favor of him everyday.
The conservative base are now considering him as the ultimate GOP front-runner who will carry their messages to the White House. Mitt has the real quality of honest to goodness leadership, significant accomplishments and desirable values.
This is for sure, many true Evangelicals like me will flock for him. Those who are afraid of his candidacy are the bigots of this era. And they are fittingly called the Evangeligots : (Evangelical bigots)
So, Mitt Romney is the man. His faith matters not to me at all. What matters most to me is his contribution to the society. His leadership, his competence, his dedication and his vision to this beloved land.
So, for the one who said that Romney can’t win,… hahahaha!
Palmetto Scoop:
All your discussion about me now and before the GOP Convention is only your imagination at work!
Rick Beltram
@marshy
Romney polls 4% in our state.
He’s “probably the victorious candidate in the Ames Straw Poll” because he’s buying people tickets, bus rides, and food in exchange for their vote.
If one looks past they money he loans himself, he’s got cash in the bank on par with second tier. Sure it’s enough to buy two states and a straw poll, and maybe a few more beyond that, but not the majority out of 50.
Assault weapons ban. Liberal judge appointments. Punishing buisnesses which don’t provide health care, even if they can’t afford it. Pro abortion until he decided he wanted to be president. Continued federal violation of privacy.
No thanks.
Beltram, are you trying to use our site to promote your business or are you somehow trying to counter the claim that you’re backing Romney without denying that you’re backing Romney?
It may just be “our imagination,” but saying “all your discussion about me now and before the GOP Convention is only your imagination at work” is a lame way to accomplish the latter option. But we’ll hand it to you, it IS an effective way to accomplish the former.
Hey everyone: GET YOU SOME TEXTILES!