Hollywood, GOP stars out for Romney

ORLANDO, Fla. — Mitt Romney didn't have to work too hard on Saturday to make the case why Florida Republicans should choose him for president. The stars of the GOP — and one from Hollywood — did it for him.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) compared Romney to President George Washington. Actor Jon Voight attested to Romney's virtues while slipping in a dig at President Obama's father. And Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a reconciled Romney foe, said the nation needed Romney's leadership like it never had before.

"I know of no one who is more qualified," McCain said — a remarkable statement from the man the Republican Party chose four years ago to lead the fight against then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

There was a clear spring in his step as Romney took to the stage amid a Florida rebound that has gone a long way to restore confidence to the former Massachusetts governor's campaign.

The three notables flanked Romney as he greeted an overflow crowd of hundreds at The Fish House restaurant, a massive wooden structure along the water in Pensacola, Fla. Voight, making his first campaign-trail appearance for Romney, called him a man of "faith, honor, love and truth."

"He is strong, honest and wants to bring the country back to its exceptional place where we have been for hunrdeds of years — until President Obama decided to follow his father's footsteps and take us to socialism."

McDonnell, the popular Virginia governor, had been urged by many in the GOP to run for president himself, in part due to the perceived weakness of the Republican field. But as he played to themes of a strong U.S. defense in the heavily military town of Pensacola, he offered a full-throated tribute to Romney, whom he endorsed earlier in the month.

"When it comes to leadership, values do matter, character does count," McDonnell said. "You need a leader that's got the toughness of Washington at Trenton."

Not all the presidential hopefuls have wielded the star power that Romney has secured for most of his campaign events. Newt Gingrich, his top rival in the lead-up to the Florida primary on Tuesday, rarely appears with campaign surrogates, and Ron Paul and Rick Santorum are not aggressively campaining in the state.

In fact, the highest-profile surrogates at Gingrich's recent events have been those supporting Romney. Republican Reps. Connie Mack of Florida and Jason Chaffetz of Utah, among others, have taken to shadowing Gingrich's events, leading in one case to a testy interaction with Gingrich's lead spokesman.

Romney kept his focus trained on President Obama, whose strategy he defined as caving in to a declining America by appeasing the worst actors on the world stage.

"I will make sure our military is so strong that no one in the world would ever think of testing it," Romney said.

---