Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, the 58th chairman of the Republican National Committee, told The Daily Caller that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s 59-point economic plan is “too big” and should be “narrowed down.”
Gilmore also said that Iowa voters hoping to “beat Obama” supported Romney’s “broad-ranging message” in the state’s caucuses while the “re-emergence of the evangelical vote” propelled Santorum within 8 votes of the former Massachusetts governor.
Watch a portion of the interview:
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“For me, I think there’s been an effort to get somebody to emerge as the anti-Romney candidate, and it looks like Santorum finally took that prize but we just have to see what happens. The nomination process is a long, drawn-out and expensive proposition. It requires a lot of organization and a lot of money so we’ll see how this goes in the days ahead,” said Gilmore, the President and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.
“We saw the re-emergence of the evangelical vote again, which I think rallied around Rick Santorum, and then we also saw a lot of liberation types that came out and a very substantial number of people supported Ron Paul in that regard and then the more mainstream, I think, Iowans who really are hoping to really beat Obama and looking for somebody who has a more broad-ranging message are looking for Romney.”
TheDC also asked Gilmore which candidate he thinks has the best chance of beating President Obama in the general election.
“I probably would think there is [one particular candidate], but I’m not going to say who that is today. We have to evaluate the Iowa returns and make some decisions going forward,” he said.
Gilmore’s organization, the Free Congress Foundation, has proposed the “Growth Code” which includes taxing all “business activity” at 15 percent, abolishing the capital gains tax and lowering tax brackets for individuals across the board to rates of 10 percent, 15 percent and 25 percent.
Gilmore also told TheDC that Romney’s jobs plan needs more focus.
“I know that Governor Romney does have a 59-point plan, but it is too big and it needs to be narrowed down into a definite specific plan,” said Gilmore.