Romney to Woo Key Conservative Group at NRA Event
Mitt Romney’s speech to the National Rifle Association is a high-profile chance for the Republican presidential candidate to woo conservatives who have viewed him warily for years.
The address on Friday in St. Louis also comes at a moment of heightened national concern about gun use because of the explosive Florida case in which a neighborhood watch volunteer fatally shot an unarmed teenager. The NRA strongly backed Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which is at the heart of the unfolding legal matter.
It won’t be the first time Romney has had to walk a careful line between appealing to conservatives, who form his party’s base, and trying not to alarm independents, who will be crucial in the fall campaign against President Barack Obama.
Few conservative groups have a bigger name or broader network than the NRA. Thousands of members are filling St. Louis hotels and sidewalks this weekend for an annual convention that offers “over seven acres of guns, gear and outfitters.”