Romney wins spot ... in Norton

1/18/2013

By The Hays Daily News

NORTON -- Willard Mitt Romney joins the list of presidential hopefuls who fell short in a ceremony at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the They Also Ran Gallery, at First State Bank, 105 W. Main.

Romney, the Republican challenger who lost to President Barack Obama, the Democratic incumbent, in November's election, will have his portrait join 59 others who have come before him. Some election years have more than one presidential loser's portrait on the gallery's walls.

William Walter Rouse, the bank's former president and owner, started collecting portraits of presidential losers after reading Irving Stone's book, "They Also Ran." When the bank moved to its current location in 1965, there was room for a gallery, enabling Rouse's private collection to go on display.