As candidates and voters wake up to a shifting landscape in the Republican presidential race, Romney did a full round of morning show appearances this morning, relishing his victory in Iowa, a state where he only recently started focusing his attention. The victory puts Romney in a strong position as he moves on to the next race – the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary – where he is already ahead in all the polls. But it will also force Romney to work even harder to attract socially conservative voters, who could now coalesce around Santorum, and libertarian-leaning conservatives, who propelled Texas Representative Ron Paul to a strong third-place finish.
Romney expressed confidence this morning that he could attract conservatives. He pointed to his record balancing the budget as Massachusetts governor. He stressed a message of “constitutional principles,” and said he has received support from Tea Party members and evangelical Christians in New Hampshire. He pointed to 2008, when he was considered a more conservative alternative to eventual Republican nominee John McCain.
“Remember that I ran four years ago, and Mike Huckabee and I were the conservative choices in that campaign,” Romney said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
McCain is expected to to endorse Romney today.
Romney expressed confidence that he could win the Republican nomination. On “Morning Joe,” Romney said he will need to connect not only with conservatives but with all Americans. “We’re going to have to make sure that we have a 51 percent or better vote come November 2012,” he said.
Romney also gave the reason for his confidence: a national organization that he has been building for years. “Relative to the other guys in this race, I’ve organized a national campaign team. We have funding that we’ve drawn from different states. I’ve got the capacity to take this campaign all the way to Tampa,” Romney said on CBS News’ “The Early Show,” referring to the location of the Republican nominating convention. “That’s something which I think other folks in this race are going to find a little more difficult to do.”
