2-man race: Rudy v. the conservative?
Posted: Friday, October 26, 2007 1:33 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC/NJ's Erin McPikePOLK COUNTY, Iowa –
Romney this morning suggested that he believes the GOP primary is going to come down to
Giuliani and a more conservative candidate.
“I think it's going to come down to two folks in my view if you look at what's happening with the nomination on our side,” he said of the Republican primary race this morning in an answer to a woman, who said she had left the GOP and asked what the Republicans can do to appeal to a broader range of voters. “And one of the two is going to be somebody who has adopted social issues that are far more like Sen. Clinton's. And someone who is in favor of or who has fought the line-item veto all the way to the Supreme Court." He added, "I don't think that's the right course for our party. It might help us do better in states where we might lose by a smaller margin. But we would still lose.”
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Later with reporters, he backed off a little on insinuating that he sees the race as a two-man contest between him and Giuliani. He said he hopes he becomes the choice of the Reagan coalition -- the alternative to Giuliani. He pointed out that he has raised $5 million more than Giuliani, but his campaign later said it was closer to $3 million in primary dollars.
At the town hall, he also went into further detail on his aggressive stance on Iran, bringing up the back-and-forth in the Democratic race as a selling point for his own position. “I listened to both John Edwards and Barack Obama, and they were critical of Hillary Clinton, because she voted along with the rest of the Senate to sanction Iran with economic sanctions," he said. "Do the Democrats not understand that Iran becoming a nuclear nation. And Iran and Ahmadinejad, who call for the destruction of us and of Israel, who talk about genocide and are moving headlong into technology that could carry out genocide, that it’s not appropriate to sanction these people?” he asked. “I find it extraordinary.”
An older voter asked Romney what he thought about getting College Republicans together for a Halloween event on the influence of Hollywood on politics. “That’s a great idea. What do you think about ‘Hillary’s House of Horrors.’?” He gave a list of what he would like in such a house and added, “What the Democrats are selling is quite frightening as we approach Halloween.”
