I interviewed South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint about his endorsement of Mitt Romney today, and the transcript is here.  Key excerpts:

Senator McCain’s a good friend, and actually, Sam Brownback’s probably one of my best friends. And just from…on an issue by issue basis, Brownback and I, you know, pair up real well. But to win a race, you would have needed to start it a couple of years ago. And as you said before you talked about my endorsement, Mitt Romney has set up an organization where he can be a viable candidate, he can raise the money, he’s got the ideas, he understands policy. So he’s put together a package that I don’t think any other candidate has been able to put together right now.

and

I think the key word for Romney is competence. He knows how to plan and strategize and get things done. And that’s what I’m looking for in a president, not someone who’s been in the legislature their whole life, and I’m not directing that at anyone, but someone who’s been a CEO, who’s been a governor, who’s done something like he did with the Olympics, where he came in, it was in a mess, he fixed it and made our country proud. I think that’s what America wants a president to do. They want to make us winners, and they want to make sure we do things the right way. And Romney has got that capability.

and

I think all around the country, including South Carolina, people are looking outside of Washington for their next leader. I really believe that. And I think as they find out more about Romney, and I know this because every time I’ve had him someplace in South Carolina, in Charleston to Greenville to Columbia, when he speaks to a group, they come away feeling inspired, feeling good about being American, and hopeful about the future. And we need that in our country today. We don’t need someone who can polarize, who talks about partisan politics all the time who has been a part of it. Romney has been a conservative Republican in Massachusetts, for Heaven’s sakes. Not only did he get elected, but he was able to get some important things done that would set a model for the nation, such as get everybody insured for health care, but don’t do it with the government. Use private policies to do it. And that’s the kind of thinking we need at the national level now, is let’s don’t use government solutions, let’s recognize problems, and see how the private sector can solve them.

For more on Romney's very good week, visit www.MittRomney.com.