Love: Romney was brave to speak to NAACP

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love said Thursday that it was brave of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to enter the lions den of the NAACP convention and say that he'd be better for black Americans than President Barack Obama.

Love, who is black and now running for Congress against Rep. Jim Matheson, was in Washington on Thursday and told me that Romney deserved credit for heading to the meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which isn't exactly in his base of support.

"That took a lot of courage for him to do that," Love said. I for one respect that."

Love - who attended a fundraiser this week thrown by House Speaker John Boehner - said she was disappointed that some people in the audience would boo the Republican White House candidate. Romney got heckled and booed when he called for repealing the president's Affordable Care Act.

"I think its unfortunate than anybody would be booed," she said.

— Thomas Burr Twitter.com/thomaswburr