Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president, is getting ready for upcoming debates with President Barack Obama “in a secluded mountainous area of Vermont,” according to the Washington Post Election 2012 blog.
The “remote” town in question? Reading, population 666, which is near the New Hampshire border and Dartmouth College in Hanover, and is convenient to Interstate 91. Romney will be in Vermont Tuesday through Thursday. His running mate, Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan will stump in North Carolina during the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina this week where Democrats will nominate Obama for a second term, according to Bloomberg News.
Reporter Philip Rucker says Romney’s three-day debate prep will include a back and forth with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who played Obama in 2008 rehearsals. Romney and Obama will debate three times in October, and their running mates will debate once, according to CNN.
It will be Romney’s first appearance in Vermont since before the March 6 Republican presidential primary.
The Green Mountain State isn’t solid Romney country. He won 39.5 percent of the vote in the primary; Rick Santorum garnered 23.6 percent; and Ron Paul received 25.3 percent of the vote.
Vermonters overwhelmingly backed Obama in the 2008 General Election. The then-senator from Chicago won 67.4 percent of the vote; his Republican rival John McCain got 30.4 percent of the total votes. In tiny Reading, which has just over 400 voters, the results were similar, with 68.1 percent of voters casting ballots for Obama; 29.1 percent for McCain.
