Mitt Romney on Tuesday addressed over 10,000 people outside of Denver, Colorado and said the presidential debates have “supercharged” his campaign.
After the first presidential debate in Denver, a lopsided victory for the GOP candidate, the presidential race flipped, with Romney becoming the frontrunner in the polls.
And the crowd that greeted Romney at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, showed the momentum on Romney’s side not just in Colorado but across the nation.
The amphitheater holds roughly 10,000 people. According to various news outlets, up to 25,000 tickets may have been requested, and thousands were turned away from the event because the venue was filled to capacity.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and Paul Ryan introduced Romney. Musicians Kid Rock and Rodney Adkins entertained the crowd.
“What a place this is,” Romney said. “This is a magnificent place for a guy born in Detroit.”
Romney seemed overwhelmed with emotion as he looked out to the crowd and seemed like he was about to choke up while looking at “these extraordinary mountains” that were “the handiwork of our Creator.”
“Nothing more impressive than the handiwork of creating a child of God, and we’re all brothers and sisters in a human family that right now wants to see the kind of leadership America wants to bring to the world,” Romney said.
The former Massachusetts Governor asked the audience if they wanted four more years of Obama, which would bring higher gas prices, fewer jobs, and declining home values.
Romney spoke about how the national debt was “immoral” and described his five-point economic plan, which calls for achieving North American energy independence in eight years and championing small businesses.
“Raising taxes on small businesses kill jobs,” Romney said.
Romney said this campaign was about the single mom who “scrimps and saves” so her kids can have meals to eat, the dad who has two jobs so he can make sure his kids have clothes that don’t make them look different from other kids, and the mom and dad who have decided to not give each other gifts Christmas gifts this year so their children can get presents.
Romney said compassion is “in our heart,” and “it is in the American way to give to others.”
“We’re a compassionate and caring and patriotic and God-loving people,” Romney said. “This great nation is called upon to decide what kind of nation we want to be in the future and the principles that made the nation what we are principles that must be restored and extolled.”
Romney promised he and his running mate Paul Ryan would again make America the country that is “the hope of the earth.”
President Barack Obama won the state of Colorado by nine points in 2008’s election. Romney currently leads the state in the Real Clear Politics average of polls.
Headline image: Tim Miller/RNC