Mitt Romney accuses President Obama of engaging in class warfare

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

DES MOINES - Wrapping up his final event before voters head to the polls tonight, Mitt Romney ended on a confident and relaxed note here this morning.

Wearing a blue sweater and jeans, the former Massachusetts governor continued to focus on President Obama and reiterated the sharp rhetoric he first deployed last night, saying that Obama’s policies will “substitute envy for ambition and poison the American spirit by pitting one American against another and engaging in class warfare.”

“I prefer an America that is one nation under God, and I will keep it that way.” Romney said to a crowd easily outnumbered by the media at the Temple for the Performing Arts in downtown Des Moines.

In introducing her husband, Ann Romney seemed to get nostalgic, bringing up her forefathers and Mitt Romney’s father George, who was a major influence in both Mitt and Ann Romney’s lives.

“We would never be on this path if it were not for George Romney,” Ann Romney said. “We would be back in Boston still in the professional business world, I’m sure of it. He was the one whose shoulders we’re standing on today.”

“You think of family on days like today,” she added.

And family was there indeed. Four of Romney’s five sons stood with him, as did his brother, Scott. He’s also joined by most of his top advisers, as well as former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who is planning to go to a caucus precinct tonight to speak on Romney’s behalf.

As Romney signed autographs this morning, some of his sons held impromptu news conferences.

“We all go get totally wasted,” Tagg Romney said when asked about family voting-day traditions. He added that he was joking, then realized the joke may have been better left unsaid in front of rolling tape recorders. “Unlike my father I’ve never actually had a sip of alcohol,” he added. “Uh, I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

“We’ll just go sit as a family and talk -- probably about anything but politics,” Josh Romney said, when asked a similar question. “Maybe get some chocolate shakes, it’s usually a tradition.”

When an Italian television reporter asked Josh Romney to explain why his father should be president, he first inquired, “In Italian or English?” He did the interview in English and when asked if he would then do it in Italian said, “Ciao. That’s all I’ve got.”