Doherty and Carcieri meet with Romney in New Hampshire
January 11th, 2012 at 11:13 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
Doherty, right, with Bucci in N.H.
Mitt Romney and Brendan Doherty, the two men who’ll likely top the Republican ticket in Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District this fall, met for the first time last weekend.
The introduction was made Sunday by former R.I. Gov. Don Carcieri after a high-profile Romney rally at the Opera House in Rochester, N.H., Robert Coupe, Doherty’s political director, told WPRI.com.
Romney invited the two men back to his private room following the event, and Carcieri introduced Doherty, his close friend, to Romney, who was governor of Massachusetts during Carcieri’s first term. They had a five-minute conversation and discussed the campaign, Coupe said.
Romney and Doherty are looking like locks for their respective nominations this Wednesday thanks to Romney’s big win in New Hampshire and the decision by Doherty’s chief rival, John Loughlin, not to run. Doherty traveled to New Hampshire to campaign for Romney on Saturday and Sunday along with Tony Bucci, his finance chief.
Carcieri endorsed Romney in 2008 and is once again a staunch supporter of his former colleague this cycle. Doherty followed Carcieri with his own endorsement last week, calling Romney “a proven leader who will stand by his convictions while seeking consensus to find real solutions.”
“One of the reasons he supports Romney,” Coupe said, “is that Romney gets the Northeast, and understands not only the politics of the Northeast – he understands some of the economic issues and some of the troubles we have in government, and that what the role of government is in the Northeast might be different than it is in Michigan or anywhere else.”
Although nearly every prominent Republican in Rhode Island has now endorsed Romney, it’s highly unlikely he’ll defeat President Obama here. A Public Policy Polling survey last year found Rhode Islanders split in their opinions of Romney and gave Obama a 17-point advantage in a direct matchup against the former Bay State governor.
Rhode Island Democratic Party Chairman Ed Pacheco criticized Doherty for his endorsement of Romney last week, saying, ”Doherty is aligning himself with a candidate who will do anything to win – including sacrifice principles to kowtow to the far, extreme Tea Party right.”
• Related: Loughlin drops out of RI-1 race, clearing GOP field for Doherty (Jan. 11)
(photo: Doherty campaign)
Tags: 1st Congressional District, brendan doherty, campaign 2012, congress, don carcieri, mitt romney, politics, republicans, u.s. house
Nesi's Notes covers politics and the economy in and around Rhode Island for WPRI.com. (Twitter: 
[...] Loughlin drops out of RI-1 race, clearing GOP field for Doherty January 11th, 2012 at 7:50 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site var addthis_product = 'wpp-262'; var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true,"data_track_addressbar":false};if (typeof(addthis_share) == "undefined"){ addthis_share = [];}• New: Doherty and Carcieri meet with Romney in New Hampshire [...]
Mitt Romney , Rick Santorum & Newt –One of them should be our next President- Obama has done so much damage to our country…VOTE OBAMA OUT!!!!!!
These two corporate twins, both well practiced in the destruction of the social realm for short term gains, are likely to pollute Doherty even further to the right under the ruse of big PAC cash for the sale of Brendan’s integrity. More than likely they will provide their well tested scripts for the new pup to follow as he grows into a corporately owned bitch!