WEST DES MOINES—Mitt Romney thanked Iowans on Wednesday amid a final pitch for the caucus votes he hopes will begin a snowball of support that rolls all the way to the Republican presidential nomination.
His family behind him and his staff in front of him for a final caucus-eve rally, the former Massachusetts governor said he hoped his 250 events spread over 55 days of campaigning in Iowa this year would prove enough Thursday night.
Romney has also spent $7 million on campaign commercials here, more than the rest of the GOP field -- combined.
"About this time tomorrow, it's going to be a great time. We're going to have a great celebration," Romney told over 500 people who filled a hotel ballroom for a final rally.
Earlier in the day, he used a charter jet to barnstorm through three eastern Iowa communities, making the same pitch at each stop.
"No one votes for yesterday; people vote for tomorrow. We don't vote for the sunset; we vote for the sunrise," he said during an airport rally in Clear Lake.
Tiptoeing toward handicapping the caucus outcome, he added: "We're in a neck-and-neck race. We are on a razor-thin edge. I don't know who's going to be ahead in terms of the polls. But the difference as to who's going to actually win depends on who turns out. So get your friends, make the phone calls, get in the cars, give me 30 minutes, 40 minutes."
Romney barely mentioned his opponents, except during a news conference at his first stop in the day in Bettendorf.
There, he criticized Sen. John McCain of Arizona -- who has been surging in New Hampshire -- for suggesting in a new ad that Romney lacks the necessary foreign policy experience to be president.
"Sen. McCain is an honorable person," Romney replied. "He's been in the Senate for 25 years, or more. And so people have a lot of talk there, a lot of suggestions about what other people ought to do, but I've actually been leading during that time."
Meanwhile, Romney chided the Iowa front-runner, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, for departing Iowa on the eve of the caucuses to visit Los Angeles for an appearance on NBC's "Tonight Show."
Romney said: "I'm not going to run his campaign, but I guess he's more focused on the caucus in L.A. rather than the caucus in Iowa."
The former governor, business executive and 2002 Winter Olympics chief executive was introduced at his final rally by Olympic speed skater Dan Jansen.
The four-time Olympian recalled being concerned in 1999 amid scandal and financial challenges confronting the upcoming Salt Lake City Games.
Asked by a fellow skater how he knew the Games would be successful, Jansen replied, "Because I just met Mitt Romney."
On Thursday, Romney was speaking to two business audiences before taking the afternoon off. At nightfall, he was slated to appear at a caucus site, before returning to the heavily Republican area west of the capital city of Des Moines for another rally.
