Romney in Iowa: "We're gonna win this thing"
MARION, Iowa - Shedding his customary caution, Mitt Romney appeared to confirm Monday what some polls and pundits are predicting, that he will finish on top in Tuesday's caucuses.
"You guys, I need you tomorrow night," he told a crowd of about 500 people. "I need every single vote in this room, and I need you to get another couple of other votes from your neighborhood and get them to caucus ... We're gonna win this thing with all of our passion and strength and do everything we can to get this campaign on the right track to go across the nation and to pick up other states and to get the ballots I need and the votes I need to become our nominee."
Special Section: Election 2012
Candidate Page: Mitt Romney
Until now, the Romney campaign has done everything possible to keep expectations for low for the Iowa caucuses. Polls show him with an extremely slim lead over Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
The Romney campaign said after the speech that the former Massachusetts governor was referring to winning the general election. But his prediction struck many as being specifically aimed at the Hawkeye State.
His comments prompted Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse to respond on Twitter, "Romney has now predicted a win tomorrow. He's been running for 5 years, is all in here and has spent millions to win. He sure better."
Romney started out his morning at a rally in Davenport in front of about 200 people. He was flanked there -- as he was throughout most of the day -- by his wife Ann and three of their five sons.
His final rally of the day was in Clive. A couple of minutes into that event, protesters tried twice to stage a human microphone chant used by the Occupy Wall Street movement. When no one immediately tried to remove them, Romney supporters drowned them out themselves, chanting "Mitt, Mitt, Mitt!"
The outburst was the first at a Romney event in which he was present. He took the disruption in stride, saying "Isn't it great to live in a country in which people can express their views?"
With Romney a solid favorite to win the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary, the candidate is setting his sights ahead to the Jan. 21 primary in South Carolina, a state in which he historically had more trouble. Recent polls show him a distant second there to Newt Gingrich, though Romney's camp hopes that strong wins in both Iowa and New Hampshire could change that.
Romney's campaign schedule calls for him to travel to Charleston, S.C., after a New Hampshire event Thursday. He then has another event in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Friday morning before returning to the Granite State.