Horn: Romney 'Best Chance to Keep Obama Out'

Months ago Jennifer Horn was solidly supporting her pick for president in 2012.

Then Tim Pawlenty pulled the plug – perhaps prematurely – on his presidential campaign after a poor showing in August's Iowa's straw poll.

A month later, Pawlenty joined the Mitt Romney camp; Horn remained solidly on the fence – until today.

"My guiding principle from the beginning was to find a way to best use my voice to make sure Barack Obama does not get a second turn at bat; I came to the conclusion that Mitt is our best chance to keep Obama out, and most qualified to lead this country," said Horn Tuesday, just hours after word of her endorsement seeped into the Twitterverse.

Over the past four months Horn has been diligent in doing her homework and hosting top-tier candidates in a series of town hall events, through her non-profit We the People Freedom Forum. 

Even after Pawlenty took the leap onto Romney's bandwagon, Horn remained quite publicly undecided – perhaps a strategic move tempered with just a wee bit of savvy, to keep those candidates coming to her town hall events.

Even so, those events provided tangible first-person encounters for New Hampshire voters with top contenders, including Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum and, most recently, Mitt Romney.

In speaking today about her decision, Horn said it is Romney's unique combination of executive experience in both the public and private sector, and his personal experience in growing jobs, that helped seal the endorsement deal for her.

"He has the personal integrity to lead. He's spent his entire life in the spotlight, and more important to me, his life outside the spotlight has been led with the kind of integrity and character that has been lacking in Washington, D.C.," said Horn, who ran for Congress in 2008 and 2010.

"He was as a young man doing mission work for his church, and has been the kind of neighbor and business man we need as a leader. We excuse a lack of integrity in politics, for some reason, and we shouldn't," Horn said.

She said she had some time to talk with Romney, one-on-one, during his most recent visit to New Hampshire, for her town hall forum held Dec. 11 at VFW Post 5791 in Hudson.

"That definitely was a factor, that he was willing to spend time with me and answer my questions," Horn said. "Mitt's run a very grassroots campaign here. Over the years he's made hundreds of visits to New Hampshire, done dozens of town halls; he's been very accessible to voters, and that shows a respect for the role the individual citizens play in this process," Horn said.

Horn, who has agreed to serve as the National Co-Chair of Romney's Grassroots Leadership Committee, would not say which of the other candidates were on her short list.

"This endorsement doesn't diminish my regard for the others – every single one has strengths. Like most people looking at this race, my ideal candidate would be a little bit of everybody. None of them are perfect, but they are not equal in their imperfection. I will say that Mitt Romney brings the best combination of experience, conservatism and ability to beat Barack Obama," Horn said.

"That said, there were a couple of candidates I really, really liked, and I certainly hope I see all of them involved in the next administration," Horn said. "I will be able to enthusiastically work for whoever our nominee is. But for now, I'm focused on doing what I can to make sure that's Mitt Romney."