On Iowa swing, Romney whacks the president

DUBUQUE, Iowa ? Mitt Romney warmed up the chilly crowd at a grassroots rally at a paper company this afternoon with some family togetherness and political red meat ? aiming his fire at President Obama as he seeks to win tomorrow?s caucuses.

?You helped me last time around, I?m expecting you to do the same thing. I need you to get out and caucus I need your friends to caucus,? said Romney to the rowdy crowd before turning his comments to Obama. ?When it comes to jobs in the private sector I think it helps to have had one ... This president has inherited a tough economy, but he didn?t make it better, he made it worse.?

Romney even got a sarcastic snicker from an audience member as he detailed what Obama was supposed to have done, ?He was going to repair the nation, he said, and repair the world and ... that?s a good laugh. This guy?s laughing in the front.?

Romney squeezed onto a stage at Weber Paper Company in eastern Iowa with six other family members including his three sons, his wife, Ann, and his brother Scott and his wife under a campaign sign saying ?Believe in America.?

?Just in case none of you showed up, just in case we didn?t have an audience here, I brought my family,? joked Romney. ?We?re doing this for family.?

Romney even rolled out the campaign blooper reel, detailing an incident in Dubuque during his 2008 presidential run when his wife apparently fell as a stage collapsed.

?This has been a source of lots of good humor for our family,? Romney said about the tumble. ?She went down to the ground, landed on her backside, I said, ?How are you honey?? A little later she said, ?Well, I fell on du-butt in Dubuque.???

Former Iowa Republican party chairman Brian Kennedy said the eastern counties that Romney is touring today have always been battleground counties in the state ? and Romney has consistently done well here, according to Kennedy.

?This is the part that will decide who will carry the state,? said Kennedy, a Romney supporter. Romney Iowa strategist David Kochel said he?s seeing ?continued big crowds and a sense of enthusiasm from Iowa voters.?

The crowd has swelled since Romney?s early morning event in Davenport, ballooning to roughly 400 people. Brad Herring, of Dubuque, was wearing a ?Mitt Romney for President? pin he snagged for $3 from a vendor inside the event.

?I think Mitt Romney has the best opportunity to beat Barack Obama,? said Herring, who said that unlike many Iowans he prefers a more moderate candidate. He believes Romney can nab first or second place.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bostonherald/news/~3/BmiN1ZlivL0/view.bg

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