ARRA Board Endorses Romney
by Dr. Patrick Briney, ARRA President:

Mitt Romney received the endorsement by the conservative ARRA board of directors yesterday. The board was polled to determine whether to endorse a candidate, how to conduct such an endorsement, and then which candidate to endorse.

The Florida primary results, the delegate count, candidate attrition, and national polls show that the Republican primary has come down to a two man contest between Mitt Romney and John McCain. As of January 29, 2008, the delegate count for the remaining Republican candidates is: John McCain 98, Mitt Romney 61, Mike Huckabee 26, and Ron Paul 8.

Clearly, conservatives will support Romney over McCain. Some will make statement votes and leave the outcome to be decided by others. Understandably, many struggle with the moral dilemma between the ‘personal conscience vote’ and the ‘socially responsible vote’ addressed previously by ARRA President Dr. Patrick Briney. Readers are encouraged to read this article before casting a vote in the primaries.

Fred Thompson received the endorsement of ARRA during their August endorsement convention. Duncan Hunter was the runner up choice of the conservative group. However, now that both candidates have bowed out of the race, ARRA directors unanimously recommend that conservatives vote for Romney in the Super Tuesday primaries.

One of the purposes of ARRA is to provide leadership in the Republican party, and as the ‘conservative conscience’ for the party, ARRA recommends the best conservative candidates to vote for coming into Republican primary elections. Conservatives throughout the nation have been in disarray due to a lack of a strong conservative leader in the Republican field. Candidates have been either strong in conservative principle and weak in leadership or strong in leadership but weak in conservative principles.

Perhaps the biggest concern for social and religious conservatives has been the issue of life and family values. But Romney gained monumental momentum from endorsements of the likes of John Wilke, a physician, and president of both the Life Issues Institute, and International Right to Life Federation. Wilke said of Romney, "Unlike other candidates who only speak to the importance of confronting the major social issues of the day, Governor Romney has a record of action defending life …. Every decision he made as Governor was on the side of life. I know he will be the strong pro-life President we need in the White House." Likewise, Jim Bopp, who has served as legal counsel for numerous pro-life organizations recently endorsed Romney pointing out that, "He vetoed the bill on embryonic stem cell research and some other efforts to liberalize the Massachusetts abortion law.”

The two man race for delegates in Arkansas will require that conservatives vote for Romney. Votes for Huckabee and Paul will serve only to reduce the votes needed by Romney to win over McCain.