This afternoon, the 'Grok went over to Weirs Beach in Laconia, NH to see Governor Mitt Romney (of Massachusetts, formerly) as he is criss-crossing the state.  No WiFi there, so no immediate blog report.  However, a bunch of pictures, notes, MP3s and a crack at a video from a new webcam (Doug will have better quality later).

Saw a number of folks there;

• Judy Krahulec - Introduced Mitt
• Frank Tilton - Belknap County Republican Chair (see video here)
  
• Chuck Clark - Representative
• Greg Kyntych - Laconia Ward 1 City Councilor Elect

as well as a few folks that I have met from the Mitt campaign.

The room is packed and Mitt just walked in – it is 4:17pm.

Here is the complete audio of the event: click here.

Judy Krahulec is introducing Mitt to a standing O to the crowd – over 200 people (they expected much fewer). She announced the Red Sox won and the Sachems won. Mitt is her guy (she is the Belknap County organizer for Mitt and his campaign asked her to do the honors). Big applause from those gathered as she turns it over to Mitt.

There was an amusing moment as Mitt retold a Boston voting story about Billy Bulger (former Speaker of the House in Massachusetts and head of UMass Amherst). It was remarked that 246 votes had been recorded from a single triple decker (a three story house, each with a separate family, common in Boston neighborhoods). It was recorded that Billy replied “yeah, the third floor was empty”.

Mitt asked if any in the crowd has been to any of his previous events...and only a few claps could be heard.

Note to candidates: I think that it is telling that local Republicans are willing to come out and see the candidates if only they would come during hours that we working folks can see them! Certainly Mitt seemed to be impressed that he basically was talking to a fresh crowd.

The beginning of his speech was replete with examples of people who showed American values and gives him confidence in the future of America. He especially talked about the Olympic athletes that he had met (both during the Salt Lake City Olympics he managed and others):

• Peekaboo Street - the skier – talk about enthusiasm!
• Dan Janseen – the speed skater – who went to 4 Olympics to finally get his Gold medal – the story of persistence and determination. Quality of the human spirit.
• He mentioned the US Hockey team at Lake Placid - our amateurs vs the world's pros. He praised their patriotism, their spirit and their emotion.
  

Gives him confidence in our future.

As he talks to the crowd, he seems very confident in his material and his style; certainly a lot less formal than what I have seen him on the TV debates. While one could tell that some of the speech was “canned”, it was more an intimate talk instead of a cross swords moment with the moderator and other candidates (and face it, at this time during the campaign, they ALL have canned snippets!).

 

More pictures after the jump along with the MP3s and video (either tonite or tomorrow)!

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, will be in Laconia next Saturday, 11/10/07, at around 4:15pm at the Weirs Community Center. 
Given the level of activity that the Democrats are showing about ANY of their candidates that come into the area, come out and support our Republicans as they come to our general area.  Yup, he may not be "your" candidate during the primary, but remember - the general election is coming!

(H/T: Gus!)