Romney staffer denies campaign disarray

                                                                           (Image Credit: Charles Dharapak/AP Photo)

A top strategist for Mitt Romney confirmed Sunday night that “speeches go through lots of processes and editing” after Politico first reported there were competing versions of Romney’s Tampa, Fla., convention speech.  The speech Romney ultimately delivered was criticized for failing to mention Afghanistan.

Stuart Stevens has been one of Romney’s closest advisers and is the person – besides Romney – most responsible for many aspects of the  campaign’s direction and message.

Much of Romney’s inner circle has been with the former Massachusetts governor for years. Stevens, who has had side trips as an author and auteur, worked for both Bush campaigns and Romney in 2008. He oversees speech-writing and ads for the campaign.

A detailed report in Politico Sunday also painted Stevens as the subject of frustration among Romney staffers after the candidate failed to receive much of a bounce in polls after his convention. Some conservatives outside the campaign, including columnists like George Will and radio-show hosts like Laura Ingraham, have questioned the direction of the campaign and its larger message, crafted by Stevens.

Romney has shied away from specific proposals for what he would do and instead made President Obama and the economy the laser-like focus of his campaign.

Read Politico’s report here.

Stevens, it turns out, was largely responsible for Romney’s speech, as Politico first reported. He called for a re-write days before it was to be given and called in new writers who reportedly had never met with the candidate.

When ABC News asked Stevens whether he would put Afghanistan back in the speech if given a do-over, he said, “I just don’t think that way.  I don’t think it would matter one vote.”

Stevens also stands by the campaign’s decision to have Clint Eastwood take the stage, and isn’t concerned whether that was a defining moment of the convention last month.

“Listen, I think Clint Eastwood, having Eastwood on your side and what he said about the president is incredibly powerful. He came out and gave a strong stance, and I think it was great,” Stevens said, “We’re talking about this when the Democrats had a floor fight over God?  Give me a break.”

Stevens also brushed off the criticism from conservatives outside the campaign, including Ingraham, who said this should have been a “gimme election,” given the economy and unemployment rate.

“It’s just not how politics works,” he said. “I never get mad at people who criticize.  I love her passion.”

Stevens argued that the Romney campaign is on track and that Obama’s post-convention bounce of 7 points in the Gallup Daily Tracking poll has already evaporated to 3 points.

“The president had a terrible week last week,” said Stevens, pointing to continued images of unrest and the events in Libya.

“If anybody turned on the TV and feels better about the president after last week,” he said, “I’d be surprised to hear it.”

Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com

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Romney talks with George Stephanopoulos

Martin H. Simon/ABC

With the first presidential debate less than three weeks away, Mitt Romney is spending lots of time getting ready behind closed doors.  In his first comments on that debate prep, he told me that Sen. Rob Portman is a tough stand-in for a president who basically lies in debates.

“I think the challenge that I’ll have in the debate is that the president tends to, how shall I say it, to say things that aren’t true,” Romney said. “I’ve looked at prior debates.  And in that kind of case, it’s difficult to say, ‘Well, am I going to spend my time correcting things that aren’t quite accurate? Or am I going to spend my time talking about the things I want to talk about?”

The former governor told me he’s tempted to use Ronald Reagan’s famous line against President Carter in a 1980 debate, “There you go again” — the same line that Bill Clinton turned on Romney and the Republicans at the Democratic convention in Charlotte.

When I asked if Portman was crushing him in early debate preps, Romney was coy.

“I’m not revealing those kind of secrets.  But I will never debate Rob Portman again,” Romney said with a laugh.

“He’s very good,” he said.

[Senator John McCain expressed a similar sentiment after going against Portman in his 2008 debate prep. McCain later told the New York Times, laughing, "I hate him still."]

The debates are at a critical moment in the campaign with the latest polls showing Obama gaining an edge over Romney in the key battleground states.

Romney told me the debates “may well be” the campaign’s make or break moment.

“Sometimes there’s something big that happens and they become deciding. Other times, it’s like, well, nothing really changed. We’re in the same spot we were before the debates.  I can’t predict what’ll happen.  But I think it’ll be revealing one way or the other,” he said.

Romney said he wasn’t concerned about new polls showing him trailing in Virginia and Ohio — even though it’s virtually impossible for him to get the 270 electoral votes he needs without victories in those two states.

“Well, I’m ahead in a lot of other states, too.  I saw one this morning, ahead in Florida, ahead in North Carolina.  Gosh, we’re even tied in Wisconsin,” Romney told me. “These polls are going to bounce around a lot.  I don’t pay a lot of attention day to day to which state’s up and which one’s down.  But I believe that when the final decisions are being made by the American people, they’re going to ask themselves, “Who do I have confidence in to keep America safe?  And who do I believe can get our economy doing what it needs to do?”

Romney said the most important numbers in this election are 23, 47 and 16: ”23 million Americans out of work or underemployed, 47 million people on food stamps,  $16 trillion in debt.  And now the Federal Reserve, it says, “Look, this economy is not going well,” he said.

And it’s because of those economic conditions some Republican allies are worried. George Will on “This Week” said “If the Republican Party cannot win in this environment, it has to get out of politics and find another business.” Laura Ingraham said “If you can’t beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party, shut it down.”

“Well you know, beating an incumbent is never easy.  The president exudes an air of likability and friendliness, which is endearing,” Romney told me. “But at the same time, I think people recognize that he has not done the job they expected him to do and that he promised he would do.”

The race will be decided by “the people in the middle” who “won’t make their mind up until the very, very last moment,” the former governor said.

And many of those people — 63% of registered voters — want more details about what a Romney presidency would look like, according to our latest ABC News/ Washington Post poll.

The former governor cited his 59 point – and more than 150 pages - economic plan that he released, but acknowledged that “people aren’t going to sit down and read a book.”

“So that means that in the speeches I give over the coming weeks I need to lay out some of the principles that were described in that book.  And I will in more detail,” he said.

Democrats say Romney’s plan would cause a $2,000 tax hike on the middle class - something Romney disputes and points to a number of studies that say his plan to cut taxes will not increase the deficit, including one by Harvard professor Martin Feldstein.

Feldstein says Romney’s math will work, but he would have to eliminate the home mortgage, charitable, state and local tax deductions for incomes greater than $100,000.

When I pressed Romney on that point, he conceded that he actually hadn’t read the Feldstein report that he and Paul Ryan cite on the campaign trail.

“I haven’t seen his precise study,” he said.

“I said that there are five different studies that point out that we can get to a balanced budget without raising taxes on middle income people.  Let me tell you, George, the fundamentals of my tax policy are these.  Number one, reduce tax burdens on middle-income people.  So no one can say my plan is going to raise taxes on middle-income people, because principle number one is keep the burden down on middle-income taxpayers,” he said.

Romney defined middle income as $200,000 to $250,000 a year and less.

“Number two, don’t reduce the share of taxes paid by the wealthiest.  The top 5 percent will still pay the same share of taxes they pay today.  That’s principle one, principle two.  Principle three is create incentives for growth, make it easier for businesses to start and to add jobs.  And finally, simplify the code, make it easier for people to pay their taxes than the way they have to now,” he said.

When I asked if he and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, would specify which loopholes they would close in order to pay for the tax cuts, Romney said he’s relying on his experience as Massachusetts governor.

“I’ve found that you have to work with the people across the aisle.  My legislature was 87% Democrat.  So if I’d have come out and said, “Here this is my bill.  This is the way I want it,” you’d never get it done,” he said. “You lay out your principles.  Those are my principles, don’t raise taxes on middle-income people, make sure the high-income people pay the same share they’re paying today, encourage growth by bringing down rates, and finally simplify the code.  Those are my principles.  I’ll stick with them.  And I believe that’s going to help get the economy going and grow jobs.”

I also asked the presidential candidate about a recent poll number that showed registered voters by a 19% margin would prefer to have dinner with Obama instead of Romney.

So what’s dinner like at the Romney house? “Chaotic,” he said.

“You’d have grandkids climbing all over you. Probably some food would be thrown from one side of the table to the other by one of my grandkids. It’d be a lot of fun,” he said.

“So I can’t tell people who would have more fun at whose table.  But I can tell you the president’s a person that a lot of people like.  I don’t dislike him myself and wish him the very best.  But I think the American people are looking for someone who has the capacity to help them get good jobs and more take-home pay.  And I do,” Romney told me.

Editor’s note: This blog has been updated to reflect that in responding to a question from ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Mitt Romney defined middle income for Americans as $200,000-$250,000 and less.

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Romney, Gingrich, GSA: Obama tweaks them all

  Eyewitness NewsWASHINGTON -- This year's primaries, the 2008 primaries, the General Services Administration scandal, even the Secret Service and Donald Trump were targets for President Barack Obama's scattershot humor at Saturday night's celebrity studded White House Correspondents Dinner.

Even the entrance to his speech was part of his schtick. The president walked off stage just before he took the podium with an alleged "hot mic," making fun of getting caught last month on an open microphone with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"What am I doing here," he asks off stage. "I'm opening for Jimmy Kimmel and telling knock-knock jokes to Kim Kardashian."

Once on stage, the president revisited last year's dinner.

"Last year at this time, this very weekend, we finally delivered justice to one of the world's most notorious individuals," Obama said, a seeming reference to the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden.

Instead, a picture of Trump appeared on the room's television monitors. Obama last year delivered a scathing roast of Donald Trump, the real estate mogul who flirted with running for the Republican nomination and claimed he has solved the "mystery" of Obama's birth certificate.

He took a shot at the Republican congressional leadership, whom he thanked "for taking time from their exhausting schedule of not passing any laws" to attend the dinner.

Four years ago, he recalled, he was locked in a tough primary fight with Hillary Clinton, now his secretary of state. "She can't stop drunk texting me from Cartagena," he said, referring to their recent trip to the Summit of the Americas in Columbia.

This year, Obama is the incumbent, but the dinner was far from a campaign-free zone. The president pointed out his similarities with the presumed nominee, Mitt Romney.

"We both think of our wives as our better halves, and the American people agree to an insulting extent," the president said.

"We both have degrees from Harvard. I have one, he has two. What a snob."

The crack drew a thumbs up from former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who dropped out of the presidential primary campaign earlier this month. Santorum had called Obama a snob for encouraging young Americans to attend college.

But Obama touched on serious themes as well, remembering The New York Times' Anthony Shadid and Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times of London who died while covering the uprising in Syria.

"Never forget that our country depends on you to help protect our freedom, our democracy and our way of life," Obama said.

Then he returned to the lighter side: "I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew."

Among those who attended Saturday night's dinner were former Secretary of State Colin Powell, the cast of the hit TV show "Modern Family," singer John Legend, actor George Clooney, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., director Steven Spielberg and actress Zooey Deschanel.

Proceeds from the dinner go toward scholarships for aspiring journalists and awards for distinction in the profession.

The association was formed in 1914 as a liaison between the press and the president. Every president since Calvin Coolidge has attended the dinner. Some of the proceeds from the dinner pay for journalism scholarships for college students.

Several journalists will also be honored at the dinner:

- Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley of The Associated Press, for winning the Edgar A. Poe Award for their stories about the New York City Police Department's widespread surveillance of Muslims after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It's the fourth major prize for the series, which has also won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and a George Polk Award.

- ABC's Jake Tapper and Politico's Glenn Thrush, Carrie Budoff Brown, Manu Raju and John Bresnahan, for winning the Merriman Smith Award for excellence in presidential coverage under pressure. Tapper won in the broadcast category for breaking the news that rating agency Standard & Poor's was on the verge of downgrading the federal government's triple-A credit rating because of concerns over political gridlock in Washington. In the print category, Thrush, Budoff Brown, Raju and Bresnahan of Politico won for their report on the deal between Obama and congressional Republicans to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

- Scott Wilson, of The Washington Post, for winning the Aldo Beckman award. Wilson was recognized for his "deeply reported and nuanced stories, his evocative writing and his clear presentation of complex issues, particularly on the foreign policy front."

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Romney wins New Hampshire GOP primary

  By DAVID ESPO and STEVE PEOPLESCONCORD, N.H. -- Mitt Romney cruised to a solid victory in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night, picking up steam from his first-place finish in the lead-off Iowa caucuses and firmly establishing himself as the man to beat for the Republican presidential nomination.

"Tonight we made history," Romney told cheering supporters before pivoting to a stinging denunciation of President Barack Obama. "The middle class has been crushed ... our debt is too high and our opportunities too few," he declared - ignoring the rivals who had been assailing him for weeks and making clear he intends to be viewed as the party's nominee in waiting after only two contests.

His Republican rivals said otherwise, looking ahead to South Carolina on Jan. 21 as the place to stop the former Massachusetts governor. Already, several contenders and committees supporting them had put down heavy money to reserve time for television advertising there.

Even so, the order of finish - Ron Paul second, followed by Jon Huntsman, with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum trailing - scrambled the field and prolonged the increasingly desperate competition to emerge as the true conservative rival to Romney.

With his victory, Romney became the first Republican to sweep the first two contests in competitive races since Iowa gained the lead-off spot in presidential campaigns in 1976. Based on partial returns, The Associated Press estimated that turnout would exceed the 2008 record by about 4 percent.

Romney fashioned his victory despite a sustained assault by rivals eager to undermine his claim as the contender best situated to beat Obama and help reduce the nation's painfully high unemployment. Gingrich led the way, suggesting at one point that Romney, a venture capitalist, was a corporate raider. The front-runner's defenders said the rhetoric was more suitable to a Democratic opponent than a conservative Republican.

Returns from 69 percent of New Hampshire precincts showed Romney with 38 percent of the vote, followed by Texas Rep Paul with 24 percent, former Utah Gov. Huntsman with 17 percent and former House Speaker Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Santorum with 10 percent each.

In interviews as they left their polling places, New Hampshire voters said the economy was the issue that mattered most to them, and a candidate's ability to defeat Obama outranked other qualities.

Romney had won in Iowa by a scant eight votes over Santorum, and gained barely a quarter of the vote there.

On Tuesday, he battled not only his rivals but also high expectations as the ballots were counted, particularly since his pursuers had virtually conceded New Hampshire, next-door to the state Romney governed for four years.

Seeking to undercut Romney's victory, Gingrich and others suggested in advance that anything below 40 percent or so would indicate weakness by the nomination front-runner.

They didn't mention that Sen. John McCain's winning percentage in the 2008 primary was 37 percent.

Romney's win was worth at least four delegates to the Republican National Convention next summer. Paul earned at least two delegates and Huntsman at least one. Another four remained to be awarded, based on final vote totals.

"Tonight we celebrate," Romney told his supporters. "Tomorrow we go back to work."

Unlike Iowa and New Hampshire, where unemployment is well below the national average, joblessness is far higher in South Carolina.

That creates a different political environment for the race.

The state also has a reputation for primaries turning nasty, and it appeared that all of Romney's pursuers read the new Hampshire returns as reason enough to remain in the race.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who skipped New Hampshire to get a head start in South Carolina, said Tuesday's results showed "the race for a conservative alternative to Mitt Romney remains wide open."

"We're nibbling at his heels," Paul said of Romney.

Huntsman had staked his candidacy on a strong showing in New Hampshire, and he announced after the polls closed that he had passed his own test. "Where we stand is a solid position and we go south from here," he said.

Despite struggling to gain 10 percent in New Hampshire, Gingrich and Santorum also said they were in.

About one-third of Republican voters interviewed as they left their polling places said the most important factor in choosing a candidate was finding someone who could defeat Obama in the fall.

Romney won their support overwhelmingly.

He ran about even with Huntsman among the one-quarter of the voters who cited experience as the most important factor in selecting a candidate to support.

Paul ran first among voters who cited moral character or true conservatism.

As was the case last week in Iowa, the economy was the issue that mattered most to voters, 61 percent of those surveyed. Another 24 percent cited record federal deficits.

Romney carried the first group and split the second with Paul.

The survey results came from interviews conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks with 2,670 voters across the state. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

New Hampshire has a rich history of humbling favorites, front-runners and even an occasional incumbent.

The state's Republican voters embarrassed President George H.W. Bush in 1992, when he won but was held to 53 percent of the vote against Pat Buchanan, running as an insurgent in difficult economic times. Buchanan, who never held public office, won the primary four years later over Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, who was the nominee in the fall.

In 2000, national front-runner George W. Bush rolled into the state after a convincing first-place finish in Iowa but wound up a distant second behind McCain. Bush later won the GOP nomination and then the presidency.

Twelve Republican National Convention delegates were at stake on Tuesday, out of 1,144 needed to win the nomination.

Obama was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

In his first presidential run in 2008, Romney finished second in the state to McCain. This time, he campaigned with the Arizona senator's endorsement, as well as backing from Sen. Kelly Ayotte and numerous other members of the state's Republican establishment.

Romney committed a pair of unforced errors in the campaign's final 48 hours, and the other contenders sought to capitalize.

On Sunday, after a pair of weekend debates only 12 hours apart, the millionaire former businessman said he understood the fear of being laid off. "There were a couple of times when I was worried I was going to get pink-slipped," he said, although neither he nor his aides offered specifics.

And on Monday, in an appearance before the Nashua Chamber of Commerce, Romney was discussing health insurance coverage when he said, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. If someone doesn't give me the good service I need, I'm going to go get somebody else to provide that service to me."

Huntsman, a former Utah governor, saw an opening. "Gov. Romney enjoys firing people. I enjoy creating jobs," he said.

And Gingrich said Bain Capital, the venture capital firm Romney once headed, "apparently looted the companies, left people totally unemployed and walked off with millions of dollars."

Romney has made his business experience a cornerstone of his presidential campaign, saying that Bain on balance created 100,000 jobs, and as a result, he understands how to help boost employment.

He sought to shrug off the attacks, saying he had expected them from Obama in the fall, but Gingrich and others had decided to go first. "Things can always be taken out of context," he said.

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Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Shannon McCaffrey, Kasie Hunt, Beth Fouhy and Holly Ramer in New Hampshire, Brian Bakst in South Carolina and Connie Cass in Washington contributed to this report. Espo reported from Washington.

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Gingrich, Romney tangle in New Hampshire again

  By KASIE HUNTMANCHESTER, N.H. -- A combative Newt Gingrich accused Mitt Romney of "pious baloney" Sunday and charged him with hiding behind inaccurate attack ads aired by allies in the increasingly rancorous race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Targeted by his rivals for weeks, the GOP front-runner fired back in a campaign debate: "This ain't beanbag ... we're going to describe the differences between us." It was the most intense exchange of a weekend debate double-header run-up to Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, won the Iowa caucuses last Tuesday by a scant eight votes over former Pennsylvania Sen.

Rick Santorum but is so far ahead in New Hampshire polls that his rivals have virtually conceded he will win.

In a slap at front-runner Romney, New Hampshire Rep. Frank Giunta announced Sunday he would endorse none of the primary candidates. Romney already has the support of the state's one Republican in the U.S. Senate and its other congressman.

South Carolina comes next, on Jan. 21, the first Southern state to hold a primary. While it is the contest where Gingrich, Santorum and the rest of Romney's rivals face an urgent need to slow his candidacy, Romney pointedly noted that he has been endorsed by that state's governor, Nikki Haley.

Santorum finished second in Iowa, followed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul, with Gingrich fourth, Texas Gov. Rick Perry fifth and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann in last place. She has since quit the race. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman skipped Iowa in hopes of a breakout showing in New Hampshire.

The GOP contenders faced off Sunday for the second time in less than 12 hours, following their debate Saturday night in nearby Manchester.

Though aggressive in assailing Romney, Gingrich hedged when he was confronted with one of his own campaign leaflets declaring Romney to be unelectable against President Barack Obama. "I think he'll have a very hard time getting elected," was as far as he would go.

It wasn't all testy. Perry drew laughter as well as applause when he said that federal bureaucrats would experience pain as a result of his plans to cut spending, especially those in the departments of education, commerce and energy. That was a reference to his gaffe in an earlier debate when he couldn't recall the name of the third of the Cabinet-level agencies he has proposed eliminating.

Indicating he'd taken offense on another matter, Huntsman, who was Obama's ambassador to China before quitting to run for the White House, returned to a comment Romney had made the night before. Romney said then that the rest of the GOP hopefuls had been trying to oppose the administration's policies while Huntsman was advancing them.

"And I just want to remind the people here in New Hampshire and throughout the United States, he criticized me while he was out raising money for serving my country in China, yes, under a Democrat, like my two sons are doing in the United States Navy.

They're not asking what political affiliation the president is. `' As was the case Saturday night, Romney sought to shrug off the attacks from his rivals on the debate stage and worked to turn the focus onto Obama, whom he accused of presiding over an unnecessarily long recovery from recession.

Obama has been "anti-investment, anti-jobs and anti-business," he said.

But Gingrich was more aggressive than he had been Saturday night, his attacks serving as bookends to the 90-minute event.

The former speaker briefly led in the Iowa and national polls before the caucuses, before his surge was blunted by a series of ads aired by a so-called super PAC that is operated by former Romney aides and allies.

Gingrich has complained bitterly that the attacks were false, but he was asked on Sunday about a similar organization set up by his own supporters. It is intent on criticizing Romney for having run an investment firm that cost workers their jobs when it took over their companies.

Asked if he was being consistent, Gingrich said, "I'm consistent because I think you ought to have fact-based campaigns." He demanded Romney say whether the attacks against him were true.

Romney replied, "I haven't seen them, and as you know, under the law, I can't direct the ads. If there's anything in the ads that are wrong, I hope they take it out."

Yet moments after saying he hadn't seen the commercials, he recited the charges they made and said they were accurate - that Gingrich had been forced to resign as speaker, that he had once talked of finding common ground with House Democrats on climate change and that he had called a House Republican proposal to overhaul Medicare "right wing social engineering."

Gingrich said he was glad "he has said weeks later if they're wrong they should take them down."

Almost 90 minutes earlier, Gingrich called Romney a "relatively timid Massachusetts moderate" whose state ranked fourth from the bottom in job creation when he was governor.

Romney said he had created more jobs in one state than Obama had in the entire country, adding that it was important to replace "a lifetime politician" like the president with a different type of leader.

Santorum, too, took a swipe at Romney, asking why he hadn't sought re-election as governor after one term.

"Why did you bail out? And the bottom line is, I go fight the fight," Santorum said, referring to his time in Congress in the House of Representatives from a blue-collar district.

Romney jabbed back with a reference to Santorum's lucrative career in the six years since he lost a re-election campaign in 2006.

"I long for the day when instead of having people to go to Washington for 20 to 30 years, will get elected and then when they lose office, they stay there and make money as lobbyists or conducting their businesses.

"I think it stinks," Romney said.

Moments later, Gingrich appeared irked and accused Romney of using more than his allotted time to respond.

"I realize the red light doesn't mean anything to you because you're the front-runner."

"Could we drop a little bit of the pious baloney. The fact is you ran in `94 and lost (to Ted Kennedy). ... You were running for president while you were governor. ... You've been running consistently for years."

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Newt Gingrich weeps, Mitt Romney attacks Ron Paul

  By DAVID ESPO and SHANNON MCCAFFREYDES MOINES, Iowa -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wept Friday as he recalled his late mother's end-of-life illnesses, a moment of poignancy in a notably negative Republican presidential Iowa caucus campaign with four unpredictable days yet to run.

"I do policy much easier than I do personal," Gingrich told an audience of women as he tried to regain his composure. The tears flowed as the former speaker was responding to questions about his mother from a pollster and longtime political ally.

Gingrich's emotional moment came as his rivals engaged in traditional campaign tactics, and as polls suggested large numbers of Iowa Republicans could change their minds before caucuses Tuesday night provide the first test of the 2012 campaign.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sought to marginalize his closest pursuer in most polls, saying, "I don't think Ron Paul represents the mainstream of Republican thought with regards to issues, particularly in foreign policy."

Paul gave no ground. "I really can't conceive" of intervening militarily to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said, unequivocally restating his position on an issue on which he differs with Romney and his other rivals.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, claiming momentum based on recent polls, told reporters he recently had the best fundraising day of his candidacy. Yet he also drew criticism from Texas Gov. Rick Perry for advocating earmarks during two terms in the Senate.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann became the latest presidential hopeful to hold a campaign event with Iowa Rep. Steve King - and the latest to hear him say he wasn't ready to give his endorsement.

Whatever the impact of Gingrich's tears on the race for the White House, the episode seemed destined to be replayed endlessly on televisions, personal computers and hand-held devices.

That was the case nearly four years ago, when Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared to choke back tears while campaigning in New Hampshire a few days before the state's Democratic presidential primary. The episode also became the subject of intense political analysis. Clinton won the primary in an upset a few days later.

Gingrich was surging in the polls a little more than a week ago, but was hit by a barrage of negative ads and has been struggling in recent days. Normally a combative politician, he shed tears as he appeared before a group of mothers and responded to a question from Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster and longtime ally of the former speaker.

Asked about his mother and an event in his life that influenced his policies and views, Gingrich recalled her as happy and having friends before she ended up in a long-term care facility suffering from bipolar disease, depression and physical ailments.

"My whole emphasis on brain science comes in directly from dealing with the real problems of real people," he said, his face distorting as he began to cry. "And so it's not a theory. It's, in fact, my mother," he said.

Kathleen "Kit" Gingrich died in 2003. She was 77.

Romney, who leads in most polls in Iowa, criticized Paul in an interview with Fox News Channel.

"I don't think Ron Paul represents the mainstream of Republican thought with regards to issues, particularly in foreign policy," he said, referring to the Texan's statement that he would oppose military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

At the same time he said Paul was outside the GOP mainstream, Romney pledged to support whoever wins the party's nomination to oppose President Barack Obama in the fall.

Campaigning later in western Iowa, Paul said he would probably have difficulty voting for any of the other Republicans in the race if they win the party nomination. "They all are part of the status quo," he said.

After months of campaigning and millions of dollars in television commercials, the polls depicted a race as unsettled and unpredictable as any in the four decades since Iowa's caucuses became the kickoff event in presidential campaigns.

A pair of surveys in the last five days suggested upwards of a third of all potential caucus-goers had not firmly settled on a candidate of choice.

The same polls made Romney the front-runner, and his decision to leave for a quick trip to New Hampshire and then return to Iowa and stay through caucus night projected optimism.

Paul views on Iran have been called into question this week by numerous other contenders, and Gingrich went so far as to say he would not vote for the Texan.

To some extent, Paul stands alone in the field because of his libertarian-leaning views. He does not want the government to have the power to ban abortions, for example, and has called for the legalization of some drugs that are now outlawed.

That has left Santorum, Gingrich, Perry and Bachmann to vie for standing as Romney's chief opponent in the competition for evangelical voters and other conservatives.

Even before the caucuses, Romney and the rest of the field were looking ahead to New Hampshire's primary on Jan. 10 and the first two Southern contests later in the month, in South Carolina and Florida.

But there was maneuvering yet to come in the state that precedes them all.

Allies of Gingrich announced they were airing a 30-minute program in Iowa produced by Newsmax, a conservative media outlet.

It features Michael Reagan, son of the former president, who calls the former speaker "a person who we believe will help continue my father's legacy."

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Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont and Kasie Hunt in Des Moines, Brian Bakst in Early and Mike Glover in Ames contributed to this report.

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2012 presidential election, politics & elections

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Romney team shifts tactics as Gingrich climbs

The Mitt Romney campaign is making an immediate shift in tactics, a move that is necessary because, as one Republican close the campaign put it, “What they are doing now isn’t working.”

At an event in Arizona, Romney himself said you will see more ads, you will see him making sure the contrasts between himself and Newt Gingrich are “loud and clear.” And Romney himself said you will be seeing more interviews and press conferences.

Some other changes you will see soon?

Integrity: When former Vice President Dan Quayle spoke about the importance of Romney’s integrity “when he’s in public life. When he’s in private life,” that was no accident. Romney will not go after Gingrich on personal issues, but ABC News has learned that you can expect to see Romney surrogates making fairly direct references to Gingrich’s tumultuous past, in the vein of what Quayle did. You can also expect to see Ann Romney and the Romney family on the trail much more, especially in South Carolina, to create a visual contrast. Their presence on the trail “speaks for itself.”

Temperament: The Romney team sees Gingrich’s temperament as a weakness. Romney himself will highlight the importance of temperament by discussing his record as a leader. Surrogates are likely to go after Newt directly. The question that will be posed is, “Who do you want to make decisions?” One Romney adviser added, “Gingrich is everything people don’t like about Washington.” Romney might not try to directly rough-up Gingrich at the ABC News debate Saturday in Iowa, but he will try to establish that contrast in leadership and temperament and hope Gingrich digs a hole for himself. “Gingrich never does well when he’s doing well,” a Romney aide said.

Money: You will see the Romney team begin to utilize their huge financial advantage. One Republican says expect ads in South Carolina soon. Not because they think it will guarantee victory (polls show them trailing there), but because they are concerned with keeping it close. Florida and South Carolina are shaping up to be areas of concern right now.

Organization: The Romney team will flex its organizational muscle, especially in Florida where they have an extensive infrastructure. The campaign just sent out an email blast touting its support in West Virginia, which does not hold its primary until May.

These are changes you will see starting today. The Romney campaign is not said to be running around scared, but as one Republican put it, “They know Newt Gingrich is someone who can win elections.”

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