CLINTON, Iowa ? Mitt Romney kicked off the bus tour he?s using to close his Iowa campaign with the wind at his back and a return to his core argument: electability.
That applies to the general election ? but starts with next week?s caucuses.
Continue ReadingRomney continues Iowa push
Buoyed by internal polling and a CNN survey released Wednesday afternoon that showed Newt Gingrich falling to fourth place in Iowa, with Ron Paul in second and Rick Santorum climbing to third, Romney told reporters in a deli here that he couldn?t think of a reason why he won?t win the state.
?I can?t imagine, except that there are other good people running, and they?ve got good campaigns,? he said. ?I like the fact that my support is building and the momentum is positive, but I can?t tell you where it?s going to end up.?
Romney will spend the next three days in the state intensifying his focus in Iowa at a moment when the state, and possibly an early wrap-up of the nomination, are now tantalizingly in reach. He?s nearly 30 points ahead in his New Hampshire stronghold, which will vote the week after Iowa. Wins in both will make it increasingly hard for his rivals to continue their campaigns.
Romney?s benefiting from Gingrich?s collapse and a splintering of votes between rivals whose support doesn?t overlap with his own. Santorum leads in Iowa among evangelical voters, but he notched just 4 percent support in New Hampshire, where Romney leads by 27 points over Paul and Gingrich. Paul?s committed libertarian supporters are a small enough group that the win he?s hoping for in Iowa remain out of reach ? or likely be dismissed if he gets it.
Still, asked by POLITICO if a Paul victory in Iowa would be just as useful for the campaign as him winning, Romney replied: ?Ah, no.?
But Romney isn?t done trying to cut down his top rivals, as he made clear in dismissing Gingrich?s calls for a one-on-one debate by pointing to his drop in the polls.
?Newt and I are not necessarily number one and number two across the nation,? Romney said on ?Fox & Friends. ?So we?ll have to narrow it down and see where it leads us.?
As for Paul, Romney responded to a softball question by a voter in a Muscatine coffee shop about the America?s relationship with Israel by taking an unmistakable shot at his fellow Iowa front-runner.
?The greatest threat Israel faces and, frankly, the greatest threat that the world faces is a nuclear Iran,? Romney said. ?We have differing views on this some of the people, actually one of the people running for president, thinks it?s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don?t. I don?t trust ayatollahs. I don?t trust Ahmadinejad ? I don?t trust those who back Hamas and Hezbollah.?
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