In Nashville, Romney back in hunt for conservative voters

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Mitt Romney kicked off a cross-country campaign blitz today that is aimed at rounding up enough conservative voters to help him stay competitive with John McCain past Tuesday.

Making a morning stop at the Pancake Pantry restaurant, he found more than a few supporters on hand, including Katheryn Huddleston, a former Fred Thompson supporter who had placed a homemade sign next to her plate of pancakes that read, "Romney: Sanity, Intelligence, Civility, Experience."

Romney later autographed the sign, scrawling "I hope!" next to the word sanity.

"We have to have somebody who's not crazed and delusional," said Huddleston, 62, referring to McCain.

Romney said he views the race as a battle for the future of the Republican Party.

“It’s a very tight race," Romney said, standing on a chair and addressing the breakfast crowd. "A lot of people said, ‘Oh, it’s just going to be a very easy for Senator McCain,’ but you know what’s happened, across the country conservatives have come together and they said, ‘You know what? We don’t want Senator McCain. We want a conservative to be in the White House!’’

Former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a new Romney supporter, spoke after Romney, delivering a powerful exhortation to Tennessee not to elect McCain, who he said was far out of the mold of Thompson, and former Tennessee senators Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist.

“It would be a sad day, a sad day if the state of Tennessee passes on the opportunity speak loudly on Super Tuesday, to speak with a conservative voice, and if Tennessee wants to speak with a conservative voice, if it wants to show the Republican Party, and the bigwigs who are lining up like lemmings behind the nominee, if they want to show the bigwigs in Washington who is in charge of this party, it’s the conservative heartland that is in charge of this party, then you only have one choice, one choice: not Mike Huckabee, not Ron Paul, certainly not John McCain. It’s Mitt Romney.”

Romney is headed today to Atlanta for a rally, and then to California, after a last-minute decision to hold a rally in Long Beach. Polls show a close race in California and Romney aides believe the state is central to his ability to stop McCain and stay competitive past Tuesday, when 21 states hold GOP contests. After Romney scheduled his stop there, McCain also scheduled a rally in the Golden State, hoping to shore up his position.

"I understand that we’ve now brought Senator McCain back to California, too, he’s like, ‘Oh, wow, Romney’s there, I better go back there and see if I can’t shore up the base there,“ Romney said. “But he’s sliding in California. Before it was a real tight race."

After California, Romney heads to West Virginia and then back to Massachusetts on Tuesday, where he will vote in Belmont and watch the returns at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. But he said California will be the key to his success.

“If I win California," Romney said, "that means you’re going to have a conservative in the White House."