Kelly Ayotte: 'President Obama has Never Even Run a Lemonade Stand'

U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) criticized President Barack Obama as an inept leader out of touch with small businesses as she addressed the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night.

She touted Mitt Romney as a job creator who would cut federal regulations and repeal Obamacare.

"My concern is that President Obama is making it very difficult for small businesses to get started, to create jobs and to survive," Ayotte said.

Obama "actually believes that as a small business grows, the federal government should take a larger and larger share of its earnings," Ayotte said.

"I call it a 'success tax,'" she said. "And you know the very best example is Obamacare."

Ayotte referred to a restaurateur in Concord who said he wanted to open a second restaurant, but said he would be penalized if he were to do so.

In the private sector, and as the one-term governor of Massachusetts, Romney always thought about how best he could help small businesses, Ayotte said.

"President Obama has never even run a lemonade stand," she said, "and you know what, it shows."

Ayotte noted her family's small business; she and her husband Joe Daley, another Nashua native, own and operate a landscaping company, which she said provided insight into some challenges to running a small business.

"I'm also pretty good with a snow plow," Ayotte said.

Ayotte was joined on the RNC stage by , the Hudson businessman who appeared in Romney campaign ads, citing some Obama remarks, "You didn't build that."

Gilchrist said he employs about 40 at Gilchrist Metal Manufacturing in Hudson. Here are excerpts of his remarks Tuesday to the GOP convention:

"Though we have enjoyed success, we face more global pressure every day. So do our suppliers. So do our customers. If we don't continually streamline our processes to stay efficient, we will lose out to our competition."

"Running a business means taking responsibility, presenting a certain future to the management team, developing a functional budget, ensuring that we have adequate supplies and making a commitment to fulfill our customers orders on time. Sure there are things which I cannot control, but running the business is my job and my alone. I blame no one else for the challenges we face. I am often reminded of something Lee Iacocca said: 'Lead, follow or get out of the way.'"

"Everyone who runs a business understands this, everyone but our federal government. They won't lead, their rules and regulations are too hard to follow and they won't get out of our way. This administration is killing us out there.

Small business needs a leader, a leader who understands the entire spectrum of business and industry, a leader who can work with all parties involved, a leader who will not avoid dealing with difficult issues, a leader with experience to understand what it takes, a leader who is in touch with America's small businesses. Mitt Romney is exactly that leader. Help us elected Mitt Romney for president of the United States."

The Internet was soon buzzing with Ayotte's "snow plow" and "lemonade stand" lines. Wayne Lesperance, a political science professor at New England College in Henniker, N.H., said the snow-plow line was a good remark for a convention, off-setting some serious points on the economy. For Ayotte, a prominent Romney surrogate, it was a good introduction to the national stage, according to Lesperance.

New Hampshire Democrats issued a prebuttal earlier this evening in a press release entitled, "Ayotte's Campaign for VP Has Ended; Her Record of Failing NH Remains."

"Kelly Ayotte is more focused on winning the favor of the national Republican Party than the priorities of New Hampshire citizens," Raymond Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said in the release. "In her short time in the Senate, Ayotte has racked up a lot of air miles for Mitt Romney - and a lot of bad votes for New Hampshire."

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