Mitt Romney Wins Over House Republicans

Mitt Romney went to Washington D.C. to have a meeting with House Republicans today and got the House GOP very excited about his candidacy after a grueling question and answer session with the former governor of Massachusetts: 

Several dozen House Republicans grilled Mitt Romney on social issues during his visit to Capitol Hill Wednesday, including his position on abortion and gay marriage, according to attendees.

But the former Massachusetts governor generally earned rave reviews from a set of lawmakers who have yet to make an endorsement in the GOP presidential primary. Romney sought to make a distinction between his experience as an executive in the private sector and his rivals’ backgrounds.

“He hit it out of the ballpark,” said Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), who had expressed concern Tuesday about Romney’s ability to counter attacks from President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. “He gave a stellar performance.”

While some House GOP members were thrilled with Romney's responses to their questions, others were impressed with Romney but still wanted to learn more about him:

Oklahoma Rep. John Sullivan, who said he is “leaning” toward endorsing Romney, said the abortion issue remains “something that gives me a little bit of pause.” He said he wants more information on that topic from the Romney campaign. “He’s got a ways to go on that with me.”

Sullivan said Romney described himself during the meeting as more of a libertarian during his days as Massachusetts governor and in a Senate campaign against Ted Kennedy.

“[T]he response was when he became governor he said he’d leave things the way they were [on abortion] and then a bill came to his desk wanting the creation of embryos to destroy them and he said, ‘Look, I can’t do this,’” said Illinois Rep. Bobby Schilling. “Actually, I thought he covered it quite well today.”

Not only did Mitt Romney impress alot of House GOP members, but he managed to an introduction and endorsement from a certain House Representative:

In a bit of a coup for Romney, he was introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), a conservative on immigration policy who hails from GOP contender Rick Perry’s home state. The Romney campaign announced Smith’s endorsement on Wednesday.

I think you will see many House Republicans give their endorsements of Mitt Romney in the coming days, months and weeks. Not all of them will endorse Mitt Romney but I suspect a large majority of House Republicans will.