Mitt Romney Campaign Steps Up Its Game In Iowa

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney's presidential campaign gave its clearest indication yet that it plans on competing more aggressively in Iowa than originally expected, telling reporters that it is working to win the 2012 caucuses there.

"We're going to be in Iowa enough to show that Mitt Romney is the best candidate to take on President Obama, and to present a plan that's thoughtful and detailed to turn our economy around and put people back to work," Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said during a press call with reporters on Monday.

"As for a strategy, our strategy is to win there," she continued, in an apparent slip that contradicted previous statements from the campaign. "Our strategy is to -- we're going to get people out to the caucuses," she quickly added.

The Romney campaign has long worked to lower expectations for his performance in the Iowa caucuses, recognizing that the large bloc of religious conservatives in the state is not the former Massachusetts governor's strongest base of support. He recently predicted he will lose the state.

In 2008, Romney invested $10 million in Iowa but finished in second place in the caucuses.

In recent weeks, however, his campaign has stepped up its presence in the state, rolling out television commercials, reaching out to former supporters and potential new ones and quietly opening an office in Des Moines.

On the press call, Gitcho said the office had been opened due to "the increased interest in volunteering as we approach the caucus state."

The Romney campaign is hosting 12 conference calls with reporters on Monday, in order to allow campaign surrogates to respond to the Democratic National Committee's new ad campaign attacking the former governor's character.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), who held the first conference call, said that President Obama is the "Barney Fife" of presidential politics because of his "stumbling, bumbling, incoherent and ineffective approach" on the economy. He further said Democrats were attacking Romney so much because they view him as a threat.

"The last thing they want to do is run against Mitt Romney," said Pawlenty, who endorsed Romney shortly after dropping out of the presidential race. "If you look at the national polls and the polls amongst independents in swing states, the strongest Republican candidate in the field to run against and defeat Barack Obama is Mitt Romney. President Obama knows that, the DNC knows that, so they are purposefully and systematically now focused on Mitt Romney, trying to tear him down, as a way to influence the Republican primary. They're doing it even before their Republican opponent has been identified."

This story has been updated.

 

 

Comments

[sunnycreek]

06:54 PM on 11/29/2011

Are you kidding me? Barney Fife? If it wasn't for the things Obama did to steer us away from a total collapse of the economy and change job losses from nearly 800,000 jobs lost per month to steady private job growth like we've been having for months now (not to mention jobs saved), we'd have a seriously higher unemployment than we do right now. What would be bumbling would be what the republicans wanted to do, or not do, rather. But I guess the only way they can fight Obama is to say things that are not true and hope no one is smart enough or ambitious enough to look up the facts. And what is Romney's tax plan? More of the same loopholes and very low taxes for the wealthy while making it more difficult for the middle class and keeping the taxpayer subsidies flowing to big oil companies. No thanks. Frankly, we'd all like to see job growth happen a lot quicker, but I am surprised we've had any progress at all with how hard republicans have been fighting against it. And this is precisely why - the more difficult they can make it for Obama when it comes to progress, the easier they can use the slowed progress against him. Never mind that millions of people are suffering while politics are being played.

[dcblues69]

06:23 PM on 11/29/2011

If Mitt finishes a strong 2nd to Gingrich he should be overjoyed. The Republicans must remember that defeating Obamamama is of primary concern - not nominating someone who exaactly shares your views. We must keep the eye on the prize. Rome was not built in a day. http://nccp.us

[sunnycreek]

07:00 PM on 11/29/2011

I don't want Obama to lose. The economy will go south again if any republican wins the election and puts their economic plan into place. Just listen to them. Also, we will never ever get off of oil as our main source of energy if there is a republican as president or if repubs take both the house and senate, and the middle class will continue to suffer because of the unbalanced tax code that repubs want to keep. They each have their own plan, but it still favors the wealthy while not doing much, if anything, for the middle class.

[Pastori Balele]

11:25 AM on 11/29/2011

All Republicans are cheaters, corrupt and inhuman. Remember what the following did: Newt, Sanford, Rush, Dick Morris, Karl Rove and now Cain. We are told Romney has mistresses in his buildings. But hear them talk - they say they're God's people.

[l2rertee]

10:59 AM on 11/29/2011

Romney is not pro-life. He says that babies concieved by the criminal activities of their fathers should pay with their life. How is that just? The fathers commit the act and the baby pays the price.

[Daniel Hicks]

08:36 AM on 11/30/2011

How fitting to your ideology that you've completely disregarded the woman in your argument.

[how goes the matrix]

09:01 AM on 11/29/2011

Is the page stuck?

[Robert Lee Harrington]

03:38 AM on 11/29/2011

On February 7, 2008, Romney suspended his presidential campaign, describing his moral obligation to make sure the Democrats lose as badly as possible. At a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Romney spoke at length about his devotion to ensuring the success of the Iraq war and protecting American lives. In solidarity, voters overwhelmingly agreed with him that the the best thing for America was for him to not be President.

Interestingly, after his brief consideration for the 2008 Vice Presidential candidacy, Romney has somehow positioned himself as the moderate, sensible candidate in the GOP's early 2012 presidential consideration, considering his likely opponents.
Political Positions

Romney is currently against the conservative trifecta of abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research, despite the fact that the latter may hold a cure for his wife Ann’s multiple sclerosis. He supports the Iraq war, the death penalty and withholding constitutional rights from suspected terrorists. All positions, of course, are subject to change.

Tagg

It bears repeating that one of Mitt Romney’s sons is named “Tagg.”

Dickipedia is a production of Huffington Post Comedy and is subject to its Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

[oxygen]

06:52 AM on 11/29/2011

when Romney told the kid in NH a few years ago who was in a wheel chair "you've got the pills" (when referring to the kids request about medical marijuana) - Romney was wrong and ignorant as usual - because the "pills" he was referring to are THC only whereas in medical marijuana you get a lot of beneficial oils such as cannabidiol which isn't even psychoactive and is a highly effective anti inflammatory medicine especially for diabetics and therefore Romney is ignorant of his wife's suffering - the "pills" will make you high but are not effective at actually treating the cause of the pain, the "good stuff" (the cannabidiol) can't get you high and yet Romney is determined that no one be allowed to have any of this natural oil that is so effective AND WE KNOW WHY - his pharmaceutical buddies want to find a way to patent it but so far haven't been able to so people suffer in the united states - it's our "health care system" and why in other countries their "pills" contain the cannabidiol - it is called sativex in canada for example - the difference between marinol sold in the u.s. and sativex sold in canada is that the sativex contains both non psychoactive yet beneficial cannabidiol whereas the marinol is strictly the THC with no good oils like cannabidiol and the THC isn't the natural type but one made in a factory chemical lab $$

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21420365

[Robert Lee Harrington]

03:37 AM on 11/29/2011

Religious beliefs

Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, otherwise known as Mormons, otherwise known as “those guys that HBO show with the polygamists is about.” When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld various anti-polygamy statues in the late 1800s, Romney’s great-grandparents fled to Mexico so the men ...could practice their religion. The family returned to the United States after Mitt’s father was born. In summation: Mitt Romney’s ancestors were sex addicts, and his father was a Mexican immigrant....

...In 1994, he ran for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, losing after Kennedy infamously called the (then) pro-choice Romney “multiple choice,” a stinging rebuke for which Romney was only able to think of the perfect comeback hours later, while lying in bed, which is totally frustrating. On the heels of his Olympic success, Romney was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002. He began his term as a proponent of domestic partnerships for same-sex couples, and ended it urging the U.S. Senate to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Untroubled by low approval ratings (70% of Massachusetts residents rated him “fair to poor”), Romney decided to run for president at the conclusion of his term in January 2007....

[oxygen]

07:01 AM on 11/29/2011

U.S. Patent # 6630507

On October 7, 2003, a U.S. patent #6630507 entitled "Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants" was awarded to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, based on research done at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). This patent claims that cannabinoids are "useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia."[38][39]

[Robert Lee Harrington]

03:34 AM on 11/29/2011

Mitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is a businessman, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, a former 2008 Republican Presidential candidate...

Mitt Romney’s impressive political acumen was instilled in him from his birth on March 12, 1947, to a failed presidential candidate (George) and a failed Senate candidate (Lenore). Born Williard Mitt Romney, he was named after his father’s best friend, hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, founder of a chain of hotels that, like Romney himself, are nice-looking but generally bland and indistinctive.

[G FORCE]

11:56 PM on 11/28/2011

This guy is a Total Looser!

[xardvar]

11:48 PM on 11/28/2011

This is a pathetic desperation ploy by Romney, he and his billion dollar brain trust have decided if he doesn't win the nomination early, then it goes south, and he might lose it all, so Romney's gonna bet the farm on the early primaries, not a show of strenghth, but rather an admission of weakness.

[oxygen]

07:04 AM on 11/29/2011

early to rise, early to bed, makes a man healthy, happy and __________________

[Weeweed Up]

05:36 PM on 11/29/2011

Isn't it wealthy, happy and _____________?

[mislz7]

11:31 PM on 11/28/2011

Ron Paul in 2012!

[termgirl]

11:28 PM on 11/28/2011

If Romney were President,
he would give the "State of the Union" address,
and the rebuttal.

[Weeweed Up]

05:37 PM on 11/29/2011

That was great! fanned

[termgirl]

01:47 AM on 11/30/2011

Fanned in return. : )

[smo1111]

11:09 PM on 11/28/2011

So Mitt changed his position on playing in Iowa? Wow........I didn't see that coming.

[acatsblack]

11:00 PM on 11/28/2011

Tired of these jokers? Become a BlueRepublican and influence the GOP field!

Here is how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFn4mxj5H3o

If you wish to support Ron Paul over the media-picked Romney/Gingrich show, please watch the video and do your part to help.

[papaeastwood]

10:55 PM on 11/28/2011

"It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again." - William James.

It is well for me that, at the age of 64, everything I believed in a few short years ago, I don't believe in anymore. I am such a character. - Mitt Romney.
Of course he didn't say that.
But based on what he says, thats what I believe.