Romney Urges Return To Family Values

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Romney Urges Return To Family Values

By Kelsey Beltramea

Taking a cue from former President Ronald Reagan, presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Friday it is time to strengthen and reinvigorate three linchpins of the nation: the military, economy and family values.

After calling for an increase in military numbers and spending, Romney touted an optimistic view on President Bush's Iraq troop surge policy, denouncing top Democratic lawmakers' recent statements that it was a failure.

"I think the Democrats are a bit too quick to look for setback and pessimism," he said to a crowd of nearly 70 spectators at the Dancing Lion, a downtown bar and community center. Romney said it might be too soon to make a judgment about the policy's success.

The former governor of Massachusetts also emphasized his support of the traditional American family. He stressed his view of heterosexual marriage after the Thursday defeat of a motion in his home state asking the public to vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Romney supports a federal marriage amendment to protect marriage, his traveling press secretary Eric Fehrnstrom said.

American families are also at risk in today's society, Romney said.

"First you go to school and earn a degree, then if you fall in love, you get married, then have kids, because children need a mom and a dad," he said.

Romney, the front-running GOP candidate in Iowa, according to a recent Des Moines Register poll, then asked spectators to recruit in mass for the Aug. 11 straw poll, at which he expects a strong showing.

Romney's appearance in Oelwein was the first stop in his weekend tour through eastern Iowa.

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