Button Buyer Came to Catch Political Buzz

Nancy Lorenzetti is a self-professed political junkie.

So, rather than leave when officials closed the front doors of the Largo Community Center around 3:45 p.m. when it filled to capacity with some 450 people waiting to see Ann Romney speak Wednesday, she was undaunted.

“Since I’m not going in, I’ll buy a button,” Lorenzetti, of Clearwater, said as she selected three pins in support of Mitt Romney.

She picked a few with pictures of Romney and running mate Paul Ryan as souvenirs to share with her friends.

“This is the collectible part of the campaign,” she said. “Anyone who is running, I would collect their button.”

Lorenzetti is an Ann Romney fan but needed to warm up to her husband. Lorenzetti said Mitt Romney’s speech at the Republican National Convention put her at ease enough to support the GOP candidate for president.

“I thought I should come over and see our future first lady,” Lorenzetti said.

Lorenzetti, a self-employed caretaker, said the most important issue this election cycle is the economy.

“I think we’re going to crash,” Lorenzetti said regarding the current state of the country. “I don’t want to burn.”

Lorenzetti started to get excited talking about the time she saw President Ronald Reagan in the mid 1980s in New Jersey.

She said she also went to see Sarah Palin when the vice presidential candidate came to Clearwater to speak during the last presidential election.

She said she would have gone to see President Barack Obama speak at the Seminole campus of St. Petersburg College last Saturday but couldn't make it because she was working.

“You don’t have the opportunity to see the president live,” Lorenzetti said.