Romney has a little geography glitch

Mitt Romney, right, visits with 87-year-old Dollie Ayres, of Wilton, Iowa, during a visit to the Wilton Candy Kitchen.
(Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press)

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff

WILTON, Iowa -- Mitt Romney spent this morning barnstorming the small farming communities of Eastern Iowa, holding a series of "Ask Mitt Anything" events and urging his supporters to turn out Saturday for the straw poll in Ames.

All the time he has spent in Iowa, however, appears to have affected the former Massachusetts governor's recollection of the state he presided over for four years.

At the Wilton Candy Kitchen, which says it is the "oldest ice cream parlor/soda fountain in the world," Romney told an adoring crowd of mostly elderly residents that his son Josh was about to complete a tour of all 99 counties in Iowa.

A woman raised her hand. "Yes, please!" Romney said.

"How many counties are in Massachusetts?" she asked.

"Thirteen," he said. A few feet away, an aide shook his head and said, "Ten."

"Oh, no, I think it's 13," Romney said. "Not like your 99."

He paused for a moment. "Yeah, if you count Dukes County ... " he trailed off. "So, anyway, we have very, very few."

"Ninety-nine counties," Romney said, apparently hoping to change the subject, "Why didn't you get to 100?"

The crowd laughed good-naturedly.

A spokesman for Romney said he shortly thereafter, "corrected the record" to the right number of 14.