Paul praises Romney ‘management style’

by Jordy Yager - 02/19/12 3:20 PM ET

Presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said on Sunday that opponent Mitt Romney has the best “management style” out of all of his remaining Republican contest rivals.

But Paul also stressed that all of his leading GOP opponents — former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.), former Sen. Rick Santorum (Penn.), and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) — were standard cookie cutters of the old establishment, who he would not feel comfortable backing.

{mosads}On CNN’s State of the Union, host Candy Crowley asked Paul if he supported Romney. Crowley raised the possibility that there might be some type of “truce” between the two campaigns because they haven’t launched attack ads against one another.

“I think they’re all the same,” said Paul. “But the only thing that I mention when people sort of press me on that, is management style.

“I think he certainly would have a more acceptable management style when you consider what I have seen and experienced from the other two candidates. I don’t think they qualify there.

“But as far as issues go, I’m uncomfortable with all three of them. I think they’re the status quo and they don’t want to really change anything and that’s what I’m offering.”

Also appearing on CNN, was Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who dropped out of the presidential race last year. Crowly pressed the one-time GOP hopeful on why a recent poll shows a waning degree of Republican support for the current candidates.

Bachmann said the drop was to be expected after the harsh attacks the candidates had launched on each other. But, she predicted, those numbers would change as soon as the race became a contest between President Obama and the presumptive Republican nominee.

“What you’re seeing is candidates that are showing out the flaws in each other,” Bachmann said. “President Obama also hasn’t really been the focus of this race. That will all change. That dynamic will change very quickly.

Bachmann refused to answer whether she thinks the GOP presidential race has come down to Santorum and Romney, who are showing the strongest numbers in recent polls.

“Whoever our nominee will be, I will stand with them, our party will unite, we’ll have a strong nominee and we will go on to win in 2012 because the American people need it and they deserve a strong pro-growth president,” she said.

Tags Michele Bachmann