“As for a strategy, our strategy is to win there.” Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho (via Huffington Post)
After skipping straw polls and giving signals that he was happy to wait until New Hampshire (and save the $10 million he spent campaigning for Iowa four years ago), the Romney campaign is now looking to not only compete in Iowa but to win it.
The latest Iowa polls show him in a distant third, with Newt Gingrich leading at 28%. Gingrich also has a big lead in South Carolina and is in second to Romney in New Hampshire. No polls have been released in Florida since early November, and those showed Cain ahead. I suspect those numbers likely have shifted by now.
Romney seems less comfortable with counting on an expected win in New Hampshire to carry him into February. With his current push for Iowa, it looks like he’s going for a one-two punch to deflate anyone’s fundraising to carry them forward. An Iowa win can carry a candidate pretty far into the primary schedule.
Iowa is a caucus state, so it’s not just a “show up and vote” primary. It is a statewide network of mini mass meetings that can last a few hours. Mike Huckabee won it four years ago, and won little else.
That Romney’s people are talking victory in Iowa shows it could be much more crucial this time.
