(USA Today) -- We wrote this morning about Mitt Romney helping out Senate GOP nominee Richard Mourdock in Indiana
by starring in a new campaign commercial. Now comes House candidate Mia
Love in Utah, seeking to link herself to the GOP presidential hopeful.
Romney can be heard but not seen in a new ad for Love, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson for a U.S. House seat.
Love
would become the first black Mormon woman elected to Congress if she
can defeat Matheson, a conservative "Blue Dog" Democrat seeking his
seventh term. Love got a featured speaking slot at the Republican
National Convention in Tampa this summer.
"Mia is the only
candidate in the race that will fight to reign in reckless spending and
to lower taxes," Romney says in an automated call for Love that's also
the centerpiece of the TV ad.
Matheson has long been a target for
Republicans, but he has managed to win by emphasizing his independence
on budget issues. His district became more Democratic after the 2012
redistricting process, according to the non-partisan Cook Political Report, but the Utah district is still heavily Republican. Two-thirds of the voters in the district are new to Matheson.
Both candidates have touted polls showing their candidates are winning, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.