TAMPA, Fla. â€" Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina is not only attending her first Republican National Convention here this week, but she also was asked to deliver one of the event's marquee speeches. Here are five questions from an interview on Tuesday.
What is one thing that you know about Mitt Romney that voters may not realize?
I love the fact that in 2008, Governor Romney was a candidate that wanted to win. What are you seeing now is not a candidate that wants to win, but a leader who has spent the last four years saying, ‘How would I have handled that situation?
A candidate who wanted to win, what do you mean?
So many times candidates go in and they go through the talking points and they say what they think people want to hear. It's very different when you watch a candidate become a leader, when they've actually watched and say ok, ‘If I was in that position, how w ould I have handled that?
Now we are seeing a better candidate because he's not thinking about being a candidate, he's thinking about being a leader. He's thinking about being a president and he's showing all the signs of being a great one.
Does Mr. Romney need to become more likeable or improve his appeal to voters?
We don't elect people because they look good in a picture or hold a baby well. We elect people because they have proven results. He has proven results. It's not about liking him. People don't care about liking who they elect. They care about electing someone who is going to work for them, that's going to fight for them, that's going to prove that they deserve to be there. That's what he needs to do this week.
Have some Republicans â€" like Representative Todd Akin of Missouri â€" contributed to the Democratic argument that Republicans are waging a ‘war on women?'
It's not serious, it's silly. Akin's comments were just insultin g â€" it's embarrassing for him, but when you look at the party in general, for Democrats to imply that women are one-issue voters is insulting to me. It's demeaning to women. Women consider everything. They care about jobs and the economy. They are about health care and how it's going to affect families. They care about the debt that's been passed on to their children and they care if their debt is going to mean anything. I know pro-life women in the Democratic Party. I know pro-choice women in the Republican Party.
Can you share a highlight of your Tuesday night speech?
“I'm going to talk about how the hardest part of my job as governor of South Carolina has been this administration.â€
