Mitt Romney: 'Corporations are people, my friend'

And in 2004, Sen. John Kerry told a crowd as he ran for president that he actually did vote for a bill paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "before I voted against it." The line cemented the public's view of the Massachusetts senator as a flip-flopper.

For Romney, his strident defense of corporations could leave the public little doubt about his loyalties.

"We don't want to raise taxes on the American people. We don't want to grow government, because government is too large already. We want to restrain the growth of government," he said. "And when it comes to Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, the truth is the promises we are making 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds and 40-year-olds have to be promises we can keep."

His performance demonstrated a frustration with part of the crowd that would not relent.

Romney pointed angrily at the crowd and told them to give him a chance to answer. After a minutes-long exchange with Romney and the group shouting over each other, Romney said: "If you want to speak, you can. But it's my turn."

During another exchange, Romney dryly scolded his heckler: "The way this is going to work is that you get to ask your question, I get to give my answer. If you don't like my answer, you can vote for someone else."