Mitt "100,000 more troops" Romney's new Iowa strategy















Romney scales down plans for Iowa straw poll


Boston Globe / Associated Press | July 22, 2007

ALGONA, Iowa -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said yesterday he has scaled back plans for a straw poll in Iowa next month that two chief rivals are bypassing.

He said he hopes to do well, but "we're not trying to overshoot dramatically." That means reducing the budget for the straw poll Aug. 11 in Ames and the number of supporters his campaign plans to bus in to the event.

In June, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Senator John McCain bowed out of the decades-old nonbinding contest. Romney has put great resources into preparing for the event, which now shapes up as a contest involving several lesser-known contenders.

"I think initially we planned to bring in a very large number of folks from across the state for the straw poll," Romney told reporters. "We've cut back on our target from that standpoint to a level where we think we can win, but we're not trying to overwhelm anybody."

The straw poll is a dress rehearsal that allows GOP candidates to measure their organizational strength months before the Iowa caucuses in January, a one-day contest that requires a strong get-out-the-vote operation.

Republican-only straw polls have been held in every competitive presidential cycle since 1979. No candidate has skipped the event and won Iowa the following January.

Boston Globe 07.22.2007
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/07/22/romney_scales_down_plans_for_iowa_straw_poll/

CNN News 07.21.2007
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/07/21/romney-scaling-back-iowa-straw-poll-budget/



Also, BTW, some dubious Mitt statements -
1. He claims to have balanced the Massachusetts budget through the elimination of duplicate state agencies when he actually relied mainly upon increases in fees and cuts to education and local aid to do so.
2. Romney takes credit for submitting state income tax cuts, although income tax rates did not change during his term as governor.






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