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>As Mitt Romney flies into Utah today for a big gathering with top Republicans and donors, the Democratic National Committee put together a call with former Utah Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Holland and Massachusetts Rep. Bruce Ayers to criticize the presumptive Republican nominee.
"Mitt Romney has asked us to look at his experience to find out who he is," Holland told reporters. "His experience tells us that his vision is not what Utah needs."
Holland and Ayers slammed Romney on the topic du jour: The Washington Post story on how Romney's former firm, Bain Capital, had worked with and managed several companies that sent opened up operations on foreign soil - a point that Democrats say is clear Romney was about profit, not American jobs.
"The choice for Uthans in this election is clear," Holland continued. "We can either keep giving tax breaks to the wealthiest, let Wall Street write its own rules again, widen loopholes for corporations, and stick seniors and the middle class with the bill - or we can continue to level the playing field, invest in education, infrastructure and people."
Well, that's Holland's take.
But I asked both the Democrats this: Given that Utah Republicans gave Romney 90 percent of the vote in the 2008 presidential primary, won't it prove that Holland and Ayers are wrong when Utahns hand Romney a similar victory in Tuesday's primary?
"I don't think so," Ayers said. "These are the same policies that he was promoting when he was running for governor [in Massachusetts]. ... the promises that he can create jobs and he can grow the economy but the proof is in the pudding."
Ayers noted that under Romney, Massachusetts ranked 47th out of 50 states for job creation, a standard attack line.
Holland said Romney's likely sky-high numbers out of the Utah GOP primary in a few days are more "related to the time he spent here, with the Olympics and the vast amount of money he has put into many Republican incumbents and office seekers in the state of Utah."
Holland vowed to continue stumping for President Barack Obama, who won Salt Lake County in 2008, although he didn't make any bets on how the state would vote come the general election.
-- Thomas Burr
