Romney promises surprise in Iowa

ANAMOSA, Iowa — Mitt Romney says he's going to surprise his better-known opponents for the Republican presidential nomination in January.

"I think the guys whose names are very famous in politics were a little surprised that this guy from Massachusetts raised more money than anybody else," the former Massachusetts governor told about 50 Jackson County GOP activists Friday at a campaign stop in Maquoketa.

"And they are going to be surprised in the caucuses, because I expect to do pretty darn well," he added.

Romney says his early successes have put him in the field's top tier with better-known rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. Among his accomplishments, state GOP leaders say, is the advanced status of his campaign organization in Iowa, where the January caucuses kick off the nominating season.

But Romney's gains also recall fast Iowa starts by past contenders who failed to win their party's nomination.

"It's not that I'm trying to avoid a pitfall. I'm trying to make sure my message is heard," Romney said in a Des Moines Register interview. "This is more than organization and money."

The message that the White House needs a private sector executive — who was elected in a heavily Democratic state — received favorable reviews during Romney's two-day eastern Iowa swing this week.

Still, a number of undecided caucusgoers who turned out for the first time to see Romney said they were not ready to commit to him.

"I like what I heard, but I don't know him very well," said Jones County Republican Colleen Rehor, a school counselor from Monticello. "He talks like he's connected with real people. But I don't know if he's the one."

Romney raised a GOP-best $23 million in the first quarter of 2007 and has built a solid Iowa campaign.

Among its influential players are Doug Gross, the party's 2002 gubernatorial nominee, and Brian Kennedy, a former state party chairman. Romney's Iowa campaign manager is Gentry Collins, the state GOP's former executive director.

Still, Romney ranks behind Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and McCain, an Arizona senator, according to early polls in Iowa. Romney expects that to change, partly as a result of his successful fund-raising quarter.

"The fact is, I'm getting good support from people who have heard me," Romney said. "That's what's pushed me into one of the leading roles."

Dan Pero, who ran Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander's 1996 campaign, said Romney faces the difficult task of trying to simultaneously project growing momentum in Iowa without peaking too soon.

"Word of Mitt's early organizational strength is going to put pressure on him to do well in the Ames straw poll," Pero said. "That looms large as a test of his viability."

Romney mentions the straw poll, expected to draw perhaps 50,000 GOP activists to Ames in August, everywhere he goes in Iowa — often more than once — calling it nearly as important as the caucuses themselves.