Continental Resources CEO picks Romney in GOP race

Continental Resources Inc. CEO Harold Hamm has chosen his candidate in the upcoming presidential race.

Hamm has pledged his support to former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the GOP nomination. He appeared with Romney on Thursday in Fargo, N.D.

Hamm will serve as chairman of Romney’s energy policy advisory group.

“I’m proud to support Mitt because I believe he is the only candidate with the private sector experience that we so desperately need in Washington. As a businessman myself, I am acutely aware of how the Obama administration has hurt the efforts of entrepreneurs and innovators and how outrageously he has attacked energy producers in particular. Mitt’s goal of cheap, plentiful energy for the American economy offers the American people a stark alternative to President Obama’s goal of driving prices higher.”

Romney called energy the lifeblood of the American economy.

“An affordable, reliable supply of energy is crucial to the bottom line of every business and family.”

He said the average family now spends more than twice as much on energy as income taxes each year, meaning the price increases under the Obama administration have had a comparable effect to doubling income taxes for the middle class.

“President Obama has achieved his goal of making energy more expensive in this country. We must abandon his course of restricting supply, increasing regulation and hoping for miraculous new technologies to save the day. Instead, we should take advantage of the enormous reserves of oil, coal and natural gas; the potential of nuclear; and the innovation of our private sector, which will power this nation for the century to come.”

Hamm will help the Romney campaign put together a broader energy team and develop a comprehensive national energy policy that creates jobs, protects the environment and guarantees a reliable, affordable supply of energy for the United States.

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