MANCHESTER, N.H.—Republican Mitt Romney closed out his New Hampshire primary campaign Monday with a prediction he had been reluctant to make following his upset in last week's Iowa caucuses.
"I'm convinced we're going to win tomorrow," he told a crowd of several hundred at a boisterous election-eve rally at his campaign headquarters.
Romney attributed the switch to 100,000 calls made by his staff, as well as back-to-back nationally televised debates on Saturday and Sunday.
"The debates were just great," he said. "But the `X' factor, the secret factor, has been the machine shop here. This place has been turning out the calls, turning out the signs."
Romney was joined on stage by his wife, Ann, sons Matt and Josh, as well as two of his 11 grandchildren. Around him sat volunteers at rows of tables, dialing cell phones as they phone-banked right up to the start of his remarks.
"The whole family is not here, but it's pretty well represented. These are two of the 11 grandkids, and two of the five sons -- and my one and only wife," he said, triggering laughter from the crowd at the subtle joke about the former Mormon practice of polygamy.
The rally followed a day of successively larger events, starting with a disappointing first event in which Romney and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., found only a trickle of workers when they showed up at
"We need some voters," Romney shouted to no one in particular as he nervously fended off questions from surrounding reporters.
From a Derry diner next to a midmorning speech at the Timberland shoe company headquarters in Stratham to a luncheon speech back at the Nashua Rotary Club, Romney's enthusiasm grew as he expressed confidence not only in his message, but against any of his potential election opponents.
"America's not looking for somebody that's been in Washington year after year after year," said in a subtle reference to rival John McCain at a final town hall meeting in Bedford. "They realize that an insider is not going to turn Washington inside out."
More overtly, he also questioned Democrat Barack Obama, who has emerged as the front-runner for his party's nomination. Only four years removed from the Illinois Legislature, Obama is unprepared to be president, Romney suggested.
Imagining a debate with the Illinois senator, Romney said: "I'll have one more question: Barack, name something you've changed. Name a business you've changed. Name an Olympics or a volunteer organization you've changed. Name something in Washington you've changed. ... You think we ought to change; but you've never done it, and I've done it. It's how I spent my life."
