Romney Downplays His Chances In South Carolina

From CBS News' Scott Conroy:

BLUFFTON, S.C. -- Fresh off his crucial victory in last night’s Michigan primary, a confident Mitt Romney took his campaign south of the Mason-Dixon line for a day-and-a-half long bus tour through South Carolina. Romney was brimming with confidence this morning, and his stump stories and routine jokes seemed to hit the mark better than usual with the crowd of about 500 retirees here.

Though he said that he would fight hard for votes here, Romney tried to dampen any expectations that his Michigan victory will carry over to South Carolina.

“I think Senator McCain has a very strong lead here,” Romney said to reporters. “He’s the clear frontrunner. It would be an enormous surprise if he were to be unable to win here. I’d like to do better than my current place, which is fourth, but even a strong fourth is better than what some of the other guys saw in Michigan last night.”

Several recent South Carolina polls actually show Romney in third place, trailing McCain and Mike Huckabee and ahead of Fred Thompson.

While his three main rivals here plan to devote all of their energies to the Palmetto State over the next four days, Romney is scheduled to fly out to Nevada tomorrow to try to secure a victory in Saturday’s caucus there. Romney pointed out to reporters that South Carolina only awards 24 GOP delegates, while there are 34 delegates to be won in Nevada.

“I’m not looking for gold stars on my forehead like I was in first grade,” Romney said. “I want delegates.”

Romney said that after South Carolina and Nevada vote on Saturday, he would focus his attention on the 21 GOP Super Tuesday states with contests on February 5th and would also expend resources in Florida, which holds its primary on January 29th.

“Interestingly, Florida looks wide open,” Romney said. “Instead of being the firewall for the Giuliani campaign, it’s going to be a real contest.”

Romney said he disagrees with the notion that Republican voters are disappointed with the GOP field and said that five well-qualified candidates represents “an embarrassment of riches.”

“You've got Senator McCain, who is a national hero,” Romney said. “You've got Rudy Giuliani, who is America’s mayor. You've got Governor Huckabee who's a very well-spoken and entertaining individual. You've got Fred Thompson, who is a senator and a charming actor, and then you’ve got a guy like myself who has spent their life in the private sector. And all five of the ones I just mentioned, if I did my math correctly, are pretty impressive in their own right.”