GOP candidates vie for voters’ trust in fluid Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa — In the kickoff contest of the 2012 presidential race, Republican candidates argued up to today’s finish line in Iowa over which candidate the voters can trust and who they can count on to defeat President Barack Obama. With large numbers of likely caucus goers still undecided or willing to change their minds as the Iowa race wound down, a confident-but-cautious frontrunner, Mitt Romney, said in an interview broadcast today on NBC that he’s poised to claim “the kind of send-off we need for a pretty long campaign season.” Backing off earlier declarations he’d win outright, he told MSNBC he expected to be “among the top group.” In a fluid race that has elevated and then discarded a dizzying assortment of front-runners, many of Iowa’s GOP voters still hadn’t settled on a favorite candidate just hours before they cast the first ballots of the 2012 presidential contest. “It might come down to the speeches at the caucuses,” Phil Ubben of Sioux City said. “I want to support someone who can go all the way and defeat the Democrats in November.” The candidates pinned their final hopes on such voters. “I think anybody can come in first,” Gingrich said on CBS’ “The Early Show.” That was most likely wishful thinking for the former House speaker, who has lost momentum after surging to the front of the GOP pack late in 2011. Training their sights on the pack leader, Gingrich and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum questioned Romney’s conservative credentials and predicted Obama would, to use Gingrich’s words, “tear him apart.” The two who appeared most likely to challenge Romney for victory in Iowa were Santorum and libertarian Rep. Ron Paul of Texas — neither of whom is likely to present as serious a challenge to Romney over the long haul as would Gingrich or Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who also has fallen back. Santorum, appearing on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” said Iowans are “looking for the candidate they can trust, and that’s why we’re moving up in the polls.” Tonight, Republicans will gather in living rooms, high school gymnasiums and local libraries for caucuses that start the process of picking the 2012 GOP nominee. In each precinct caucus, voters will urge their friends and neighbors to support a preferred candidate. For all of the attention paid to the caucuses, they are essentially a nonbinding straw poll that awards no delegates. Republicans do that at county and district conventions later in the year. Twenty-five delegates are at stake in Iowa, out of 1,144 needed to win the Republican nomination — what Romney called “the whole enchilada.” Obama isn’t ceding the stage to the Republicans while they sort that out: The president, fresh off a 10-day Hawaiian vacation, made plans to host an evening web chat with supporters in Iowa as the caucuses were under way. For all the talk of trust and electability, candidate in both parties know the economy is sure to be the central issue in 2012: Obama was to travel to Cleveland on Wednesday for an event focused on the economy. Romney, for his part, said he’s running to get the country back on track after presidential mistakes that have left “a lot of people out of work.” Most polls in recent days have put Romney and Paul atop the GOP field in Iowa, with Santorum in third and gaining ground. More than a third of all potential caucus-goers said they could yet change their minds. Perry, Gingrich and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann all trailed. Romney faces the same challenge he did in 2008: winning over a conservative base that’s uncomfortable with his moderate past. In 2008, socially conservative voters united behind Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, denying Romney a first-place finish and contributing to his eventual defeat. This time, Romney’s trying to win Iowa by arguing he’s the most electable candidate against Obama — a pitch that’s winning over conservatives who desperately want to beat the president. “I want to make sure I vote for and caucus for someone who is a winner. We cannot have another four years of Obama,” said eyeglass salesman Paul Massey, 65. How many people turn out to vote will help drive the results. In 2008, more than 120,000 Republicans showed up, a record. Weather could be a factor in this year’s attendance. Iowa hasn’t had much snow this winter, and there were clear but cold forecasts across the state. After today’s vote, Romney, Gingrich and Santorum planned to depart immediately for New Hampshire. Romney holds a commanding lead in polls there, and will be in a strong position to win even if he doesn’t pull out a victory in Iowa. Paul plans to join his rivals in New Hampshire later in the week. The primary is Jan. 10. Perry and Bachmann don’t plan to compete in New Hampshire, instead heading straight from Iowa to the first-in-the-South primary, set for Jan. 21 in South Carolina. Romney also plans to visit South Carolina this week, with campaign stops Thursday and Friday.