With President Barack Obama planning a campaign event in Leesburg Thursday evening, Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign sent a bus to town in the morning to rally supporters and call Obama’s leadership into question.

Romney Virginia Victory Chairman Pete Snyder said the president promised lower unemployment and a better overall economy after his first term. Snyder and other used dire terms to describe the current economy.

“The Obama policies have been nothing short of crippling for the country and Loudoun County,” he said, adding that Obama offers a divisive message that pits the wealthy against the rest of the nation.

Local business owner Danny Vargas called the Affordable Healthcare Act, often referred to as Obamacare, “nothing short of failure."

“We need a new plan for America, a new future,” Vargas said, pointing to a $16 trillion national debt. He said the private sector needs certainty in terms of taxes and regulations.

Del. Barbara Comstock, a Republican, said Virginia has been succeeding by doing things differently than the federal government.

“We’ve done the opposite,” she said, calling for Bush-era tax cuts to be extended for all Americans. Obama has called for extending the cuts only for those making less than $250,000 a year. Comstock also said the health care laws, some of which took effect Aug. 1, and regulations on coal production would drive taxes up.

“This would be a disaster, the kind of taxes he wants to put on us,” Comstock said. “We need to have a president that will work with us and not fight us.”

Comstock said she met Romney when he worked on the 2002 Olympics and that he has the ability to get things back on track.

“He was a great success in turning around what was a scandal-plagued Olympics,” she said.

Comstock also criticized Obama for not offering better ideas for looming cuts to the national defense budget.

“He has no plan for jobs,” she said. “There’s just nothing. You never hear him talk about a plan.”

Snyder said voters should consider how they are today compared with 2008.

“Things have not gotten better, Mr. President,” he said. The result, Snyder said, has been three elections in a row in Virginia that heavily favored Republicans in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

“Republicans are on the war path,” Snyder said. “We have a red storm rising in Virginia right now.”

Several local students who can’t vote, but nonetheless support Romney attended the GOP event.
“These kids right here, this is our future,” Comstock said.

Vargas warned that the race would be “razor thin,” so Romney supporters would have to work to get all of his supporters to the polls in November. “Victory in Virginia is not assured.”

Anti-Obama rallys continued around Loudoun County High School where the president appeared Thursday night.

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Obama: Victory in Loudoun Equals Reelection

See photos from Obama's campaign event in Leesburg

Read Patch's live coverage from Thursday evening