Romney stung twice, but pressing on

Sees chance to win delegates in Michigan

"I'd rather have a gold, but I got another silver," former governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts told hundreds of supporters at his party last night in Bedford. (Essdras M Suarez/Globe staff)

BEDFORD, N.H. - Mitt Romney, unable to refocus his message and prove his authenticity to New Hampshire's fiercely independent and fiscally conservative voters, yesterday suffered a second defeat in six days, leaving his presidential campaign strategy in tatters.

Instead of emerging from New Hampshire with two wins under his belt as he had planned for months, Romney will be forced to campaign in Michigan and South Carolina amid mounting questions about whether he has the right platform and background to compete for the Republican nomination.

Romney sought last night to put the best face on his second-place finish to a resurgent John McCain.

"I'd rather have a gold, but I got another silver," Romney told hundreds of supporters at his primary night party at CR Sparks restaurant in Bedford.

Still, he said, to wild cheers and applause: "I will fight across this nation, on to Michigan and South Carolina and Florida and Nevada and states after that."

But yesterday's loss was particularly painful because New Hampshire should have been Romney country. Unlike the electorate in Iowa, where social issues are paramount and evangelical Christians powered Baptist minister Mike Huckabee past Romney to victory last week, New Hampshire voters put a greater emphasis on fiscal issues and the brand of business-friendly conservatism that should have played to Romney's strengths.

Instead, Romney struggled to recast his message after Iowa, where he had spent millions of dollars and countless hours burnishing his image as a social conservative and champion of a greater role for religion in public life.

McCain - and many of New Hampshire's newspapers - pounced on Romney, branding him a phony for changing his positions on abortion and other issues to appeal to voters in Iowa. Even a late effort by Romney to recast himself as a change agent and problem-solver - and McCain as a Washington dinosaur - fell short.

"It played into this view that people don't know where this guy is, who he is, and what he believes," said Linda L. Fowler, a Dartmouth College political scientist. "He has an authenticity problem and he happens to be running against one of the most authentic politicians we've seen in the last 10 years - John McCain. Nobody will ever accuse him of being a phony."

Romney said yesterday he plans to stay in the race at least through Feb. 5, when 22 states hold primaries. He points to his victory in the Wyoming caucuses Saturday as evidence of his national appeal. With a net worth between $190 million and $250 million, the former venture capitalist has the vast resources needed to keep his campaign afloat. As of Sept. 30, he had outspent his rivals - dropping a total of $45 million nationwide, including $17 million from his own fortune. He has refused to say how much he is willing to spend.

Michigan, which votes next Tuesday, presents his best chance to begin mounting a comeback, though he will have to meet expectations for a resounding victory. Born and raised in suburban Detroit, Romney is the son of a three-term Michigan governor and he has already been running television ads. He plans to hold two events in the Grand Rapids area today, after stopping in Boston for a telephone fund-raising event similar to the one that brought in $6.5 million in one day last January.

"I think I can connect with Michigan," Romney said yesterday, before his loss to McCain. "Michigan is very personal for me."

He might face a tougher climb in the Jan. 19 caucuses in Nevada and in the primary the same day in South Carolina, where evangelicals exert considerable influence and where Huckabee is leading in the polls.

"I believe that people in South Carolina will decide - as I think most Americans do - based on who they think has the experience, the vision, and the values to lead the country, and also to beat whoever they think the Democratic nominee is going to be," Romney said.

Winning New Hampshire had been a linchpin of Romney's strategy. Even before he formally announced his candidacy last February, Romney had worked to raise his profile in the state. In 2005, while governor of neighboring Massachusetts, he spoke at a dinner for New Hampshire Republican women and held a fund-raiser for the state Republican Party at his home on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee.

He has held more than 150 meetings with New Hampshire voters since, and enlisted prominent supporters such as US Senator Judd Gregg and former New Hampshire attorney general Tom Rath. He led in the polls for much of last year. But when McCain surged last month in New Hampshire polls, Romney fired back with ads criticizing him for opposing President Bush's tax cuts and supporting a plan to give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. Since returning to New Hampshire from Iowa, Romney, 60, also sharpened his stump speech to say Washington did not need any more "old, tired faces." (McCain, 71, began serving in Congress in 1983).

Fowler said Romney was most effective when he talked about using his business experience to fix Washington.

She said he will need to hone that theme to keep his campaign alive, and show that he can present an authentic message of change.

"I don't look at his campaign and point to one event or single thing that went wrong," Fowler said.

"I just think he gave it a good shot but, in a funny way, he should have let Romney be Romney."

Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.