Romney Hopes To Win Straw Poll In Iowa

By: Michael Luo

New York Times

Monday, Jul 30, 2007

"Mitt Romney stumped across Central Iowa late this week, cramming in political events as he approached the Republican straw poll scheduled for Aug. 11.

"At each stop, his speech doubled as a full-throated defense of the role Iowa has traditionally played in the presidential process.

"'I care very deeply about where our country is headed, but I also believe the right way to pick a candidate is to have people in Iowa and New Hampshire really get a chance to know the candidates,' Mr. Romney said here on Friday at the first of five 'Ask Mitt Anything' forums that day in Iowa."

...

...

"For the straw poll – in which campaigns buy tickets for busloads of people to come spend the day and cast their votes – his organization has scaled back its budget from when it expected a full-fledged battle with Mr. Giuliani and Mr. McCain. Instead of A-list entertainers, the Romney campaign is hiring local bands. But it is still having Hickory Park, a famous barbecue establishment in Ames, cater food for straw-poll voters and is seeking to bring in people from all 99 Iowa counties."

...

"Mr. Romney appears to have decided in his two days in Iowa to begin acting more like a front-runner, diverging from his regular stump speech to attack not his main Republican rivals but the leading Democratic contenders.

"'If we were to elect Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John Edwards president of the United States, we would take a sharp left turn,' he told an audience of about 100 people here on Friday. He has also been adopting an increasingly vocal culture warrior persona, digging in for a pitched battle with Mr. Thompson for social conservative votes.

"Mr. Romney repeatedly refers to a new television commercial in which he promise to clean up the 'cesspool' of drugs, sex and violence that he says surrounds America's children."

...

"'I believe my message is connecting to voters in these early states,' he said on Friday to reporters here. 'I'm hopeful I can take the same message and have the same response across the country.'" ...

View Entire Article