Pete Wilson Backs Mitt Romney for President

Former Gov. Pete Wilson of California announced on Monday he is backing Mitt Romney for president. Wilson ran a brief and very unsuccessful bid for the Republican primary nomination himself during the 1996 election cycle but he did not even make it to Iowa. Romney named Wilson his honorary chairman in California.

Im honored to have Governor Pete Wilsons support, because hes one of Californias most accomplished leaders," Romney said. As governor of California from 1991 to 1999, he led California from the depths of recession to prosperous economic recovery. Taking office with an inherited revenue gap of over $14 million, he left his successor a surplus of over $12.5 million. Insisting on strict budget discipline and rehabilitation of the states then-hostile environment toward investment and job creation, Pete persuaded Democratic legislative majorities to enact dramatic tax and regulatory relief especially helpful to small businesses.

Mitt Romney is an enthusiastic believer in American exceptionalism and has been a spectacular example of it," Wilson said. Mitt has been a success in creating American private-sector jobs, a success as the rescuer of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, and as a public chief executive as the Republican governor in the challenging environment of heavily Democratic Massachusetts. It is clear that he will be a success in the White House -- as the strong leader America so desperately needs to reverse the unprecedented and utterly irresponsible borrowing, taxing and spending of the Obama administration. And as the most electable top of our ticket, his candidacy will attract the support of Republican, independent and wise Democratic voters -- and is rightly seen by down-ticket Republican candidates as the nominee most beneficial to them in their own races. He is the leader we need to rescue this great nation from the tragedy of a second Obama term that threatens grave and perhaps irreparable harm to both our economy and our national security. Mitt Romney will provide the leadership to create the confidence and certainty of judgment needed to stimulate investment that creates jobs rather than green taxpayer-funded bankruptcies.He will restore America's strength and credibility, and win back respect for America from both our friends and our enemies.