Romney Goes Retail in Pre-Iowa Push

After enjoying comfortable lead in the polls for weeks, Mitt Romney is now in a statistical tie with John McCain. And his candidacy is being assailed by more than just his fellow candidates.…..The past week has seen the liberal Concord Monitor and the conservative NH Union leader both urge voters to reject Romney for being inauthentic. On Wednesday, Romney said his changes of winning the primary remain as solid as ever.

"I think I’ve been able to stay in the same spot as I was before. I want to do more. I want to have a strong closing message that will bring people to my campaign. I'm pleased with the endorsements that I've had, like Bruce Keough, and Senator Judd Gregg, and The National Review, and of course Judge Robert Bork. But I cant get all the endorsements, and ultimately the endorsement I really care about is the endorsement of the voters of NH."

And of late, Romney gone after it in the old fashioned way – with lots of face to face courting of undecided voters at places like ski areas, country stores, and diners—like this one in Nashua.

"Oh look at these guys here. Pats fans? How ya doing? You guys like the NH maple syrup, not that bland stuff?"

"If I had a question. Why would I vote for you?"

"Well, you'd want somebody who is right on the issues, who had experiece bringing change to everything he'd touched. You'd want someone who understood how the private sector works. I've spent 25 years in business, starting a business, turning around a business, and turning around the Olympics. And you saw me across the border in Massachussetts, helped turn the state around, and got everyone health insurance, on track to get health insurance."

Romeny’s pitch went on to stress the threat of terrorism, and ended with this.

"We got a new generation of problems out there and I’m ready to tackle them."

But his questioner wasn’t exactly persuaded.

"A lot of fluff."

Judd Lundberg is a retired high-tech worker, undecided voter and lifelong Republican…...

"A lot of fluff, a pretty guy. You know, he's got a canned little talk he gives."

But others were persuaded by Romney’s sales efforts……Which by late-morning could be witnessed at a Manchester barbeque joint…….

"You having lunch here?"

"Yeah, undecided Republican voter."

"Good to meet you…..You doing alright?"

"Yeah."

"This is a good place to come."

"I think your policies are just in line with what the country needs."

That’s Collet Hill of Bedford……Hill says to his mind the race for the Republican primary has narrowed to a contest between Romeny and McCain…..Hill says Romeny is most likely to get his support.

"His program on immigration looks reasonable and certainly he seems more than competent with his business background and running the Olympics and all that. That’s a very impressive resume."

Romney next stop was on Manchester's west side. Romney placed particular stress on his local ties, speaking of his second home in Wolfboro, and good times his family has had here…..And though he admitted that the primary remain up for grabs, he suggested if he does win, it will be by dint of hard work.

"We’ve had 150 events with citizens in the last year and I cannot express to you the interest of the people in NH in the process by which you select the nominee of each party."

Mitt Romney, and most other hopeful won’t be back in NH until after the January 3rd Iowa caucuses……..An exeption to that is GOP rival John McCain…..He returns to NH this afternoon for more campaigning.