Denver – Former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez of Colorado endorsed fellow Republican Mitt Romney for president Wednesday.
Beauprez, in a mass e-mail, said Romney had the right “political philosophy” as well as the experience and leadership skills necessary to be president.
“We have had the opportunity to learn a great deal about Mitt and we are impressed by what he has achieved – as a husband and father, as a successful businessman, and as the Governor of Massachusetts who brought conservative governing principles to a state famous for its liberal tendencies,” wrote Beauprez and his wife, Claudia, in the e-mail.
They also applauded Romney’s closing a $3 billion deficit in his first year in office without having to raise taxes or incur more debt.
Beauprez asked recipients to donate to Romney’s campaign by Saturday, the fundraising deadline for the first quarter.
Because the amount of money raised often indicates a candidate’s long-term viability, the presidential candidates are scrambling for money in the final days of the quarter.
Additional political news briefs:
WASHINGTON
Ending war dominates labor-union forum
Ending the Iraq war dominated the talk among presidential candidates during a labor-union forum Wednesday.
“It is time for us to bring the war to a close,” Democrat Barack Obama told the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.
The Illinois senator and other candidates got standing ovations from the labor group when they mentioned ending the war.
“We have lots of members that have sons and daughters over there that are coming back injured and coming back without feet and arms and legs,” said Edward Sullivan, president of the building and construction trades alliance. “They should be home. Enough is enough.”
Earlier in the day, the group booed House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, when he suggested that if U.S. troops withdraw, terrorists will confront them in America.
The alliance is an umbrella group of nearly a dozen unions representing about 2 million workers. Sullivan said his member unions will try to agree on one candidate before making an endorsement.
NEW YORK
Flat-tax backer Forbes endorsing Giuliani
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani gained the endorsement Wednesday of a former GOP candidate – billionaire publisher and flat-tax proponent Steve Forbes.
Forbes ran for the White House in 1996 and 2000 as a Republican pushing a flat income-tax rate.
The chief executive of Forbes Inc. said Wednesday that Giuliani’s record as mayor of New York City “showed how exercising fiscal discipline, including tax cuts, lowers deficits, spurs economic growth and increases revenue.”
