Mitt Romney Visits Iowa Wooing Caucus Voters: Four Days and Counting

Running second in the polls for much of the past few weeks, despite spending more than $15.7 million on television ads this year, $11.9 million of it in Iowa, Mitt Romney is running hard in the stretch towards the January 3^rd Iowa caucuses. A poll taken tonight showed him gaining on first-place Republican candidate, Arkansas Governor Huckabee. Romney, clad in a casual sweater in an overheated room, spoke in the Mozart room of Jumer's Lodge in Bettendorf, Iowa, on Sunday night, December 30^th, at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) to a crowd that exceeded expectations, numbering perhaps 300 or 400.

Ironically, in a year when Campaign Media Analysis Group (an organization that tracks such things) says that campaign and issue ads nationwide have cost more than $715 million to date, and with the "first-in-the-nation" Iowa caucuses just 4 days away, one of Romney's refrains was, "We're spending too much money."

He meant the nation, of course, and he was right, of course. Quoting his wife, Anne, Romney declared that the financial crisis in this country was like two people in a canoe, arguing rather than paddling, while the canoe heads for a waterfall. He concluded, "It's time to get something done in this country."

Romney said "I'm optimistic about our future because of Moms, Dads and Grandparents," and also said, "It's people who believe in God" who would help save the nation from the abyss. "The key to our future is to strengthen families (*single parents, take note), strengthen the economy, strengthen schools. I'm the only guy...Democrat or Republican...who actually understand how the economy works."

Romney quoted comic P.J. O'Rourke in regard(s) to the health care system in this country, saying, "If you think health care is expensive now, just wait till it's free." This was an obvious jab at front-running Democratic candidates (take your pick) advocating health care for all Americans.