NEWS FLASH

Romney Sought To Win Over Maggie Gallagher’s Endorsement | Mitt Romney’s campaign tried — and failed — to cultivate the support of ardent anti-gay leader Maggie Gallagher, the New York Times reported on Saturday, after the same-sex marriage opponent hinted of her support for Rick Santorum. An hour after hearing about Gallagher’s pending endorsement, Romney aide Peter G. Flaherty “invited her to send over a copy of her forthcoming book, for which Mr. Romney, it suggested, might provide a flattering blurb. “It was,” Ms. Gallagher recalled, “extremely unusual and gracious,” although she ultimately backed the former Pennsylvania senator. In his outreach to conservative opinion makers, Flaherty is promising that “Romney would select a running mate who shared his conservative views on social issues,” a pledge Romney himself reiterated during a town hal in Michigan Tuesday afternoon.