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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney visits Moulton’s Market in Amherst, where he greeted customers, delivered a short speech and answered questions Wednesday.

Staff photo by EMILY BERL

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney visits Moulton’s Market in Amherst, where he greeted customers, delivered a short speech and answered questions Wednesday.

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GOP hopeful Romney pays another visit

Published: Thursday, August 2, 2007

MILFORD – Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney made his second visit to southern New Hampshire in as many weeks Wednesday, speaking to employees at Cirtronics in Milford and locals at Moulton’s Market in Amherst.

The reception wasn’t as warm as his appearance at a Republican luncheon in Nashua late last month, when rounds of applause peppered his comments, but crowds in Amherst welcomed Romney’s newest talking point – a “surge of support.”

Romney expounded at both stops that the Bush administration’s troop surge is vital to success in Iraq and should be accompanied by an outpouring of support for troops and their families’ “surge of sacrifice.”

“There’s a lot of talk about supporting our troops, but let’s really support them,” he said.

He also repeatedly criticized comments made by U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn’s comment that success in Iraq would be a “big problem” for the Democratic Party.

Romney said he doesn’t think Clyburn meant that success in Iraq would be a negative thing, but also made sure to mention the comments at least three times during the two visits.

“I’m pretty impressed. I really am,” Cirtronics solderer Michele Casey said. “I liked what he had to say about education.”

Romney answered questions from Cirtronics employees and Amherst residents on a number of topics – including education, health-care reform, energy independence and the war in Iraq.

He didn’t offer many specifics on his plans for any of those subjects, but said he would be unveiling his health-care plan at the end of the month.

Cindy Doty went to Moulton’s Market to pick up some milk, but ended up staying when she realized Romney was speaking.

“It’s nice to know who they are,” she said of the candidates. “I like a lot of the things he stands for.”

“We’re very much in his camp. I want to see him president,” Ken McDaniel said.

“I hope he’s the future president,” added Laurette Vansse.

Following a brief tour, Romney’s comments at the 30 percent employee-owned Cirtronics largely centered on his business background and how lessons he learned as a consultant and venture capitalist are applied to public service.

The four most important things, he said, are recognizing the importance of assembling a good team of advisers, basing decisions on hard data, strategizing a solution and “benchmarking” the solution to make sure it’s working.

Romney said the biggest transitions he had to make from private industry to politics had to do with politicians’ reluctance to base decisions on data, rather than a politically correct response, and the inclination to talk rather than act.

The tendency for businesses to snap into action rather than over-talking problems is something that should happen more often in government, he said.

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