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Mitt Romney
DAVENPORT, IOWA — Standing on stages across Iowa and marveling the size of his crowds, Mitt Romney says this election “is a dramatic choice between two different paths for America.” The November contest, he argues, “is an election about the soul of America.”
On a bus tour through the state over the past week, Mr. Romney has kept his focus squarely on President Obama, presenting two starkly different visions for the future of the country, and painting himself as the candidate best equipped to wrest the White House from Mr. Obama this fall.
For months Mr. Romney kept Iowa at arm’s length, perhaps mindful of his second-place finish there in 2008 despite investing heavily in the state. But as the Republican field remained fractured, he made a late play to win. And a victory in Iowa would catapult him decisively into the position of the candidate to beat in the fight ahead, as polling for the next contest, in New Hampshire a week after the caucuses, gives him a commanding lead there.
To sharpen the contrast with the president, he tells voters in Iowa that while he offers a “merit-based” and “opportunity society,” Mr. Obama is turning the country in an “entitlement society.”
“We’re an opportunity nation, I think the president wants to turn us into a European-style welfare state, an entitlement nation, where the role of government isn’t to provide our freedom and opportunity, but instead the role of government is to take from some to give to others in the name of equality,” Mr. Romney said here Monday morning. “I don’t want to become a European welfare state. Europe doesn’t work there — it’ll never work here.”
Mr. Romney’s “closing argument” speech is generally long on patriotism — since landing in Iowa, he’s taken to quoting from “American the Beautiful” — and short on policy specifics. On Monday, however, he offered a few details of what he would do as president.
Mr. Romney said he would negotiate trade agreements to open more markets to American goods. And he said he would balance the budget by cutting government programs that are not absolutely critical, such as subsidies for Amtrak and the Public Broadcasting Service.
“I’m going to say, which of these programs do we absolutely have to have?” Mr. Romney said. “Is this program so critical to America that it’s worth our borrowing from China to pay for it?”
Mr. Romney added, deploying one of his fail-safe applause lines, “By the way, the first on the list to get rid of is Obamacare.”
ASHLEY PARKER
Rick Santorum
PERRY, Iowa — Rick Santorum, whose candidacy once appeared to be such a lost cause that he held a campaign event where one person showed up, spent the day before the Iowa caucuses trying to convince voters that he could not only win the Republican nomination, but would unite voters against President Obama to win in November.
“Who in this race has proven that with a conservative record they were able to attract independents and Democrats?” he told a crowd of about 100 people (not including hordes of news media) who packed shoulder to shoulder inside a hotel lobby here for a voter meet-and-greet.
“Has Mitt Romney done that?” he added. “Nope. Never ran as a conservative and tried to attract any votes. Have any of the congressmen running from conservative Congressional districts proven that? Nope. Has Governor Perry, who ran as a conservative in Texas? I mean, how hard is that?”
Mr. Santorum’s sudden change in fortune — from practically pleading with voters to give him a chance to now telling overflow audiences that he is more electable than his rivals — was a sign of how rapidly his campaign has climbed in the last few days. Several polls have put him near the top in Iowa, reordering the Republican field once again.
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