Rabbi Aryeh Spero, president of Caucus For America, on Thursday endorsed Mitt Romney as the Republican Party’s candidate for President. 

“As a life-long conservative, I am confident and comfortable with the themes and beliefs that animate Mitt Romney of 2012,” Rabbi Spero said in a statement, adding that Romney “believes in a smaller federal government with less regulation and intrusion into American business life, capitalism, and lower taxes so that our citizens can, themselves, provide for their families.

Rabbi Spero added, “[Romney] is proud of America and its Judeo-Christian roots, and believes in a strong military that will defend this country from looming threats, and is keenly aware of the immediate threat coming from radical Islam. Support for Israel is a cornerstone of his outlook.  He not only supports these themes but also personally identifies with and loves these themes.”

Rabbi Spero, who was the first rabbi to publicly endorse Ronald Reagan in 1979, said, “Romney will do that which is the single most important thing to reinvigorate our economy, namely, to allow and motivate the American people to unleash their energy, idealism, and entrepreneurship. He is a moral man with fine character, and all this picayune litmus-testing coming from his opponents and activists within our conservative community borders on the hysterical and is making some unable to see the forest for the trees. Under today’s myopia, Eisenhower would have been disqualified.”

He concluded, “I would be proud to have the Romneys as our First Family.  They stand for many of the things I find admirable and enduring.”

Romney, who won the New Hampshire primaries last week, is considered a front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination. A supporter of the Jewish State, Romney visited Israel last year.

On Thursday, another candidate, Rick Perry, withdrew from the race. Perry dropped out just two days before the South Carolina primaries.