Matt Romney says he'll bring his father back to Guam

by Nick Delgado
Guam - All eyes were on Guam over the weekend as the GOP Presidential Caucus was held at the Sheraton Laguna Resort. Candidate Mitt Romney gained support from all nine delegates on Guam. Romney also won the Republican caucus for the nine delegates in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
It's results that most conventiongoers believe was due to the personal visit by the Romney's son, Matt. The Romney campaign is doing it's homework on the issues the territory currently faces.
After meeting Governor Eddie Calvo and Republican senators Saturday morning, Matt Romney says his father most definitely has to make the trip out to Guam to see firsthand how to address issues such as war reparations and the military buildup. "The visit's fantastic; the only problem is it's too short," the younger Romney said. "We'd love to spend a lot more time here, I also would like to get my dad and my brothers to come out here so we are going to work hard on doing that.
"Obviously if elected it'll be a lot easier, but even if not we'd love to get out here. I had a great conversation with the governor and Republican leadership here, I learned a lot about he issues we are facing here on the islands and it's been enlightening and there are things I really would like to take back to my dad and tell him. It's been a great trip, not only for learning but just enjoying to see a new place of the world."
It's a trip across the Pacific the presidential candidate's son and wife Laurie took for nine votes. During the GOP State Convention each candidate - Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum - were given a fair shake to attract Guam's GOP. But a quick show of hands favored Romney.
Mitt Romney immediately thanked the delegates, stating, "The people of Guam have always stood bravely for America and the values we hold dear. We stand together in our efforts to secure the future that this nation deserves. I am honored to have won the Guam caucuses, an important milestone in my quest to restore America to the principles and practices that made us great." He added, "This is someone that will roll up his sleeves and get the job done. This is somebody who now as we look at our country we need somebody to turn this country around, we need somebody to turn this economy around. We need someone who doesn't like waste, who know that it's our money, our taxes that are being wasted right now."
Matt says he learned a lot about Guam's issues from compact impact to the Marines' realignment. It's something he says his dad will stay on top of. "Obviously, I am not in a position to answer how he'd resolve each one of those issues," he stated. "What I will say is he is very good at listening and he does listen to me and I'd want to make sure he talks to people here too. I'd love for him to come here at the very least I want to take back what I've heard from the governor here today and take that back to my dad so he can listen and respond. I know his team has already reached out to people here and he's been studying issues here already so that's been encouraging to hear."
He also recognizes how important the territory is to the U.S., saying, "You have to look at the location of Guam: its in such as strategic location, so close to Japan, Korea, Japan and even Russia so its in such a strategic location for us, it's a very important territory. So that's not lost. We got to go to a lot of different states, we are doing a lot of campaigning for my dad and he is such a great person and we will do anything to help him.
"Final thoughts would be just a place of beauty, a place that I think a lot more people need to come and see."
The Romneys left Guam Saturday evening to Hawaii. The nine delegates going in August to the national GOP convention in Tampa, Florida are Governor Calvo, Senator Frank Blas Jr., state chairman Jess Torres, national committeeman Peter Alecxis Ada, national committeewoman Donna Jones, Martha Ruth, Larry Kasperbauer, Telo Taitague, and Mike Benito.