MILITARY: Fear of defense cuts could help Romney in Virginia | WashEx
By MB Snow at October 7, 2012 | 12:05 am | Print
Brian Hughes, October 6, 2012 –
Mitt Romney’s effort to overtake President Obama in the crucial swing state of Virginia may depend on how effective he is at convincing voters he can limit the economic damage from pending defense cuts.
The Republican presidential candidate will give a foreign policy address at the Virginia Military Institute on Monday, looking to highlight what he calls President Obama’s “taking a meat cleaver to the military.”
Under a deal between the Obama administration and Congress to raise the nation’s borrowing capacity last year, leaders agreed to implement $1.2 trillion in automatic, across-the-board reductions over the next decade if a broader debt reduction solution is not achieved. Nearly half of those cuts would come from the defense budget, a cash cow for Virginia.
Both parties agreed to slash defense as a consequence of a failed deficit deal. But Romney has said Obama bears most of the responsibility because he failed to lead effectively during the fiscal crisis.
And analysts said that attack is helping the GOP challenger in the Old Dominion, where polls recently have tightened.
via Fear of defense cuts could help Romney in Virginia | WashingtonExaminer.com.
