WEST CHESTER, Ohio — Mitt Romney on Friday kicked off his final sprint to Election Day, igniting the largest crowd of his presidential campaign with an appeal for Americans not to settle for the status quo of the last four years.
“The question of this election comes down to this: Do you want more of the same or do you want real change?” he told nearly 30,000 people here, who greeted the former Massachusetts governor with chants of “four more days.”
Many have questioned whether Romney could excite conservatives in the most crucial battleground states. With a crowd resembling that of a major sports event, those concerns were put to rest on this chilly night in a conservative bastion in the Buckeye State.
The late-night remarks were orchestrated as a sequel to Romney’s convention speech in Tampa, Fla, with a long list of GOP heavyweights speaking before Romney. Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, Arizona Sen. John McCain, House Speaker John Boehner, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, among others, served up a healthy dose of red meat to the Ohio audience.
But Romney struck a more measured tone with his closing argument against President Obama, saying that unlike the incumbent, he would foster bipartisan change.
“He promised to be a post-partisan president but he became the most partisan of our presidents,” Romney said. “Instead of bridging the divide, he’s made it wider.”
And Romney was quick to highlight Obama’s assertion in Ohio Friday that voting was the “best revenge.”
