Romney Campaign Press Release - Pensacola News Journal: "For the GOP Nomination: Mitt Romney"

"For The GOP Nomination: Mitt Romney"

Pensacola News Journal

Editorial

January 22, 2012

http://www.pnj.com

This year, for the Jan. 31 Republican primary election, we recommend former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

While hardly the underdog McCain was, we feel that Romney has some of the best ideas in the GOP field not just for the nation, but for our area.

We believe Romney has good ideas about defense spending in a post-Iraq/Afghanistan era. He holds a cautious view of potential defense cuts, saying that he would not reduce the defense budget to lower than 4 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. It's about 4.7 percent now.

He also believes that the fleet is too small, and has said that he would build an additional nine to 15 ships, an important consideration to a Navy that might be called upon even more with the rise of China and the concerns of Asian nations who look to the United States to counter-balance Beijing.

Romney also calls for an additional 100,000 active-duty personnel.

Romney also has a thoughtful position on another issue important to Northwest Florida: Medicare. Romney believes that some of the ideas put forward by Paul Ryan, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, hold merit, including the possibility of vouchers and increased managed care. Romney also is clear that any adjustments to the Medicare program would be for future beneficiaries.

In a time of tight budgets and growing demand on services like Medicare and Social Security, some ideas suggested by Ryan, with some seemingly supported by Romney, should be part of the political discussion.