Former state representative Quayle endorses Romney

Former Vice President Dan Quayle has endorsed Mitt Romney for president in the forthcoming 2012 elections.

Quayle — an Indiana native and former state representative and senator — wrote an op-ed piece published Tuesday in the Arizona Republic, headlined, “Quayle: Romney’s qualities make him best candidate for president.”

“Because of President Obama’s failed leadership, Washington has become dysfunctional. We need a leader from outside of the Washington establishment,” Quayle said in the Republic. “We need a president with a proven track record of innovative thinking and a proven ability to make tough decisions and implement them.”
Quayle said Romney possesses four criteria that make him the ideal candidate: leadership, character, conservative philosophy and electability.

“Our president needs to have the temperament and principled character to lead,” Quayle said of Romney’s character. “He must be a person of integrity. He must have demonstrated (that) he can be trusted. Trust is something that is earned.”

Of his electability, Quayle said Romney is the only option.

“We need a candidate who can defeat Obama,” Quayle said. “Our country will be economically bereft and internationally enfeebled if he is reelected. Our candidate must attract independents, moderates and conservatives. We need to reach out to Hispanics, Asians and African-Americans. We need the conservative who can get elected.”

Romney, who is currently behind fellow candidate Newt Gingrich in a recent ABC News/Washington Post survey, is the former governor of Massachusetts. Romney ran an unsuccessful campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, losing to John McCain.

Quayle was born in Indianapolis and studied at DePauw University and the IU School of Law-Indianapolis (now the Robert H. McKinney School of Law).
He served as a state representative from 1977-81 and as a senator from 1981-89. He was asked by George H. W. Bush to serve as vice president, from 1989–93. Quayle was nominated for re-election with Bush in 1992 but lost to Democrat Bill Clinton.

— Margaret Ely