Romney On Arkansas Senate Campaign: ‘The Entire Nation Cares About This Race’

Former GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney continued his two-day tour of Arkansas with a Little Rock stop to endorse Republican Senate nominee Tom Cotton.

“The entire nation cares about this race,” Romney said. “I’m proud to be here today to endorse Tom Cotton. He’s going to win.”

“This could well be the race that determines who has control in the Senate,” he added.

Romney, who carried Arkansas by 23 points over President Obama in 2012, said Cotton was right on a number of issues including energy, lower prices, immigration, health care and jobs.

“I don’t think the president or [Sen. Majority Leader] Harry Reid understand what it takes to put America back to work,” said Romney, the former governor of Massachusetss. “Tom Cotton understands what it takes to put people back to work.”

In thanking Romney for the official endorsement, Cotton reiterated his message that incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor was “a loyal foot soldier for Barack Obama” and said Pryor voted with the president 93% of the time.

“I’ll be a senator who when I say Arkansas comes first, I’ll mean it,” said Cotton.

HEALTH CARE
Cotton said he had not yet seen the latest TV ad from Pryor, which features his father, former Sen. David Pryor. The ad talks about Mark Pryor’s battle with cancer and an insurance company to pay medical bills. In the ad, Pryor touts his support for the Affordable Care Act, also referred to as Obamacare, without mentioning it by name.

“No one should be fighting an insurance company while you’re fighting for your life,” Pryor says in the ad. “That’s why I helped pass a law to prevent insurance companies from canceling your policy if you get sick or deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.”

Cotton said he believed the health care system was broken five years ago and that it has been worsened by the federal health care law. “We need to repeal Obamacare, start over and get it right.”

When asked what “getting it right” would mean, Cotton said fixing health care includes the federal law and entitlement programs including Medicare and Medicaid.

Romney, who instituted health care reform as governor of Massachusetts, said there were two untruths about the federal health care overhaul.

He said the president and supporters didn’t tell the truth about being able to “keep our insurance if we like it” and he said it was inaccurate to say that “insurance premiums would drop by $2,500 a family.”

“The truth is those people did not tell us the truth,” Romney said.

When asked about Arkansas’ version of Medicaid expansion, the Private Option, Romney said he wouldn’t weigh in on the subject, but “I like the idea of states being able to fashion their own solutions.”

Romney also suggested he would not run for president in 2016. When asked, he said, “No, I’m having the fun of being out campaigning for people I believe in.”

Romney endorsed GOP gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday in Jonesboro.