WFSB Channel 3GOP candidates vie for voters' trust in fluid Iowa

In the kickoff contest of the 2012
presidential race, Republican candidates argued up to Tuesday's
finish line in Iowa over which candidate the voters can trust and
who they can count on to defeat President Barack Obama.
      With large numbers of likely caucus goers still undecided or
willing to change their minds as the Iowa race wound down, a
confident-but-cautious frontrunner, Mitt Romney, said in an
interview broadcast Tuesday on NBC that he's poised to claim "the
kind of send-off we need for a pretty long campaign season."
Backing off earlier declarations he'd win outright, he told MSNBC
he expected to be "among the top group."
      In a fluid race that has elevated and then discarded a dizzying
assortment of front-runners, many of Iowa's GOP voters still hadn't
settled on a favorite candidate just hours before they cast the
first ballots of the 2012 presidential contest.
      "It might come down to the speeches at the caucuses," Phil
Ubben of Sioux City said. "I want to support someone who can go
all the way and defeat the Democrats in November."
      The candidates pinned their final hopes on such voters.
      "I think anybody can come in first," Gingrich said on CBS'
"The Early Show." That was most likely wishful thinking for the
former House speaker, who has lost momentum after surging to the
front of the GOP pack late in 2011.
      Training their sights on the pack leader, Gingrich and former
Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum questioned Romney's conservative
credentials and predicted Obama would, to use Gingrich's words,
"tear him apart."
      The two who appeared most likely to challenge Romney for victory
in Iowa were Santorum and libertarian Rep. Ron Paul of Texas -
neither of whom is likely to present as serious a challenge to
Romney over the long haul as would Gingrich or Texas Gov. Rick
Perry, who also has fallen back.
      Santorum, appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," said
Iowans are "looking for the candidate they can trust, and that's
why we're moving up in the polls."
      On Tuesday night, Republicans will gather in living rooms, high
school gymnasiums and local libraries for caucuses that start the
process of picking the 2012 GOP nominee. In each precinct caucus,
voters will urge their friends and neighbors to support a preferred
candidate. For all of the attention paid to the caucuses, they are
essentially a nonbinding straw poll that awards no delegates.
Republicans do that at county and district conventions later in the
year.
      Twenty-five delegates are at stake in Iowa, out of 1,144 needed
to win the Republican nomination - what Romney called "the whole
enchilada."
      Obama isn't ceding the stage to the Republicans while they sort
that out: The president, fresh off a 10-day Hawaiian vacation, made
plans to host an evening web chat with supporters in Iowa as the
caucuses were under way.
      For all the talk of trust and electability, candidate in both
parties know the economy is sure to be the central issue in 2012:
Obama was to travel to Cleveland on Wednesday for an event focused
on the economy. Romney, for his part, said he's running to get the
country back on track after presidential mistakes that have left
"a lot of people out of work."
      Most polls in recent days have put Romney and Paul atop the GOP
field in Iowa, with Santorum in third and gaining ground. More than
a third of all potential caucus-goers said they could yet change
their minds. Perry, Gingrich and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann
all trailed.
      Romney faces the same challenge he did in 2008: winning over a
conservative base that's uncomfortable with his moderate past. In
2008, socially conservative voters united behind Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee, denying Romney a first-place finish and contributing to
his eventual defeat.
      This time, Romney's trying to win Iowa by arguing he's the most
electable candidate against Obama - a pitch that's winning over
conservatives who desperately want to beat the president.
      "I want to make sure I vote for and caucus for someone who is a
winner. We cannot have another four years of Obama," said eyeglass
salesman Paul Massey, 65.
      How many people turn out to vote will help drive the results. In
2008, more than 120,000 Republicans showed up, a record. Weather
could be a factor in this year's attendance. Iowa hasn't had much
snow this winter, and there were clear but cold forecasts across
the state.
      After Tuesday's vote, Romney, Gingrich and Santorum planned to
depart immediately for New Hampshire. Romney holds a commanding
lead in polls there, and will be in a strong position to win even
if he doesn't pull out a victory in Iowa. Paul plans to join his
rivals in New Hampshire later in the week. The primary is Jan. 10.
      Perry and Bachmann don't plan to compete in New Hampshire,
instead heading straight from Iowa to the first-in-the-South
primary, set for Jan. 21 in South Carolina. Romney also plans to
visit South Carolina this week, with campaign stops Thursday and
Friday.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.