A governor many Republicans had hoped would run for president himself will visit Iowa next week to campaign on behalf of candidate Mitt Romney. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie talked by phone with a large group of Iowans Thursday afternoon, one of whom worries Romney hasn’t campaigned in Iowa enough.
“We are looking forward to hearing more from Governor Romney if he is able to be here more,” the woman told Christie. “He’s not been here a lot.”
Christie noted Romney had visited the state last week and will return “often” before the Caucuses.
“You should have no doubt that Governor Romney is committed to meeting the people in Iowa and to laying out his vision in person and you’re going to be seeing him over the course of the next number of weeks.”
Romney campaigned in Iowa extensively in 2007 before the 2008 Iowa Caucuses. He has visited the state only a handful of times in 2011.
Another participant in the conference call with Christie worries the attacks Democrats are making on Romney will damage his chances of winning the Republican nomination.
“I like Governor Romney, in fact I believe he’ll be the (Republicans’) candidate, however my concerns are — and I know we can’t stop them — but these liberal attack ads like the two faces of Mitt and coming up with better answers for RomneyCare being the model for ObamaCare — those things are serious threats,” the man told Christie.
Christie responded: “These ads are something that we’re just going to have to put up with, but I think they’re not running ads about Newt Gingrich and they’re not running ads about Herman Cain and they’re not running ads about Rick Santorum. They’re running ads about Mitt Romney and the reason they are is because the White House fears Mitt Romney.”
According to Christie, that should send a message to Republican voters that Romney’s experience as a private sector business executive would be the best contrast with President Obama in November 2012.