Romney "Convinced" Of N.H. Victory
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- He says he doesn't like to make predictions, but Mitt Romney just made another one.
"I'm convinced we're gonna win tomorrow," Romney told a crowd of hundreds of cheering volunteers and supporters at his state headquarters.
The former Massachusetts governor, who has lagged behind John McCain in recent polls, seemed buoyed by the large and enthusiastic crowds that greeted him at his headquarters and at a town hall event in Bedford tonight.
"Boy, if I had enough voice left, I think I'd let out with a Howard Dean scream!" he joked in Manchester.
There has been a noticeable spring in Romney's step all day after his performance in last night's televised debate, which his campaign staffers are convinced he won decisively. There was a light moment when Romney's state chairman Bruce Keogh introduced the governor in Manchester tonight.
"Let's roll back the clock about 24 hours now," Keogh said. "And I don't know what you were doing, but I know what I was doing. And I know what Mitt was doing."
Romney then leaned into the microphone and said, "Waiting for Huckabee to answer his question," a reference to Mike Huckabee's refusal to answer Romney's challenge about whether the former Arkansas governor raised taxes in his state by half a billion dollars. The remark set off laughter across the room.
At the Bedford town hall, a crowd of almost 700 people listened to Romney hammer home his argument for why he'd be the best Republican to go up against Barack Obama in the general election. Romney forecasted what he might say to Obama at a debate:
"Barack, name something you've changed. Name a business you've changed. Name an Olympics or a volunteer effort you've changed. Name something in Washington you've changed. Name something you've changed. You think we are going to change, but you've never done it. I've done it. That's how I've spent my life."
Well known for his seemingly boundless energy, Romney said that the trait runs in his family, citing a book written by an ancestor.
"It says there's an old family saying that if a Romney drowns in a river, look upstream for the body," Romney said.