Rocking the Vote, Meat Loaf Endorses Romney

DEFIANCE, Ohio - It was, perhaps inevitably, called the Mittloaf endorsement.

Meat Loaf, the onetime king of the quivering power ballad, backed Mitt Romney's bid for the White House on Thursday night in meandering and meteorological-themed remarks here in northeastern Ohio.

Standing on stage at a high school football stadium were Mr. Romney appeared, dressed in a black silk shirt with sparkling buttons and sequin-studded sleeves, Meat Loaf said that, at age 65, he was new to national politics, something that quickly became evident. “I want you to know at 65 that Paul Ryan has not pushed me off the cliff in a wheelchair,” he said to nervous laughter.

In a globe-trotting survey, he assessed what awaits the next president. “There has stormclouds come over the United States.” (Yes, he said it just like that.)

“There is thunderstorms over Europe,” Meat Loaf said. “There are hailstorms, and I mean major h ailstorms, in the Middle East. There are storms brewing through China, through Asia, through everywhere, and there's only one man that on the other night when President Barack Obama, God bless him, said to Mitt Romney, ‘The cold war is over.' I have never heard such a thing in my life. The man needs to understand Putin and Russia, so I want you to know that there is one man who will stand tall in this country and fight the storm and bring the United States back to what it should be … Gov. Mitt Romney!

Meat Loaf said that he began to privately support Mr. Romney a year ago and had decided to take it public during a rally on a high school football field, where he performed “Stand in the Storm.”

“I know there's one thing that you've been taught your whole life is that you never argue politics or religion with your friends, but 2012 is completely different,” Meat Loaf said, calling the race “the most important election in the history of the United State s.”

He said he had called three Democratic friends in California on Thursday to make the case for Mr. Romney. “I got two of them to switch to Romney, so two out of three ain't bad,” he said.

Mr. Romney, whose musical tastes tend toward soft rock (the Beatles and Roy Orbison), nevertheless seemed charmed by the appearance when he took the stage.

“I mean, Meat Loaf was here,” he said. “Can you believe it?”