Why Wall Street Loves Mitt Romney: Q&A With THL Partners' Scott Sperling

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Scott Sperling, a vocal Obama-to-Romney switcher and co-president of buyout giant THL Partners says Mitt Romney's principles of lowering tax rates and his experience as a private equity executive are reason for a party switch.

Sperling has given governor Romney nearly $60,000.00 through contributions to the Republican National Committee and to the Restore Our Future political action committee, according to Opensecrets.

In the 2008 election cycle, Sperling was a donor to Democratic causes, the data reveals.

Instead of dwelling on the assumptions and calculations in Romney's budget -- which have received criticism as lacking detail from Democrats and even some respected Republicans -- Sperling is in strong support of Romney's growth oriented values and skills and believes they are key to a budget balance.

Growth, Sperling says, will allow Romney to lower overall tax rates without forcing tax cuts on the middle class, an accusation leveled by Democrats and many budget experts on Romney's fiscal plan. In fact, Sperling is skeptical that candidates can be scored on their budget proposals in an accurate, non-partisan manner.

See Scott Sperling speak about how THL Partners, Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group drove a top and bottom line earnings recovery at Dunkin' Brands (DNKN), the parent of Dunkin' Donuts.

Sperling's focus the stabilizing impact of economic growth differs from a narrative more tilted towards deficits and debt that's taken hold on the campaign trail and will likely be a centerpiece of presidential debates, which start in early October. It is Romney's experience of reigniting growth at companies in distress that Sperling also sees as another key selling point.

Below are some answers from TheStreet's interview with Sperling.

TheStreet: How do you see the Romney campaign with under 50 days to election day?

Scott Sperling: I think the debates are going to be very important because I don't think the true picture of Mitt Romney has gotten out to the public in many ways, which is pretty astounding. The Obama campaign is run by some really effective professionals and they've done an amazing job trying to define Mitt early on and it's hard to break through that.

TheStreet: What do you see as the strongest economic points of the Romney campaign?

Sperling: I think the most important thing for this country right now is jobs, which is largely dependent on economic growth and the ability to get out of this really horrible cycle that we've been in with approximately 15% unemployment and 47 million people on food stamps. That's bad for people, and that's bad for psychology because it exacerbates the problem we have with budget deficits and government's ability to help the people who need the most help.

If we want to deal with those issues, we need to have economic growth. A 100 basis point swing in GDP growth is a three to four billion dollar impact on the projected budget deficit over the course of 10 years, which is more than anything president Obama's campaign is talking about. If we end up at this 1.5%-to-2% growth rut that we've been in, then we are going to have real significant problems.

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