Republican candidate Mitt Romney says “tough questions” are just part of the process of running for president. 

The televised debate this past Tuesday night among the GOP candidates featured a variety of verbal skirmishes, including a notable moment when Romney and rival Rick Perry quarreled over immigration policy.

“People in our party want to make sure that the person we nominate is someone who can beat Barack Obama and can go toe-to-toe with him in debates,” Romney said Thursday morning during an interview on KSCJ Radio in Sioux City. “…They’re getting a good chance to sort of see us and let us test our muscle and test our rhetoric and test our capacity to respond to challenges which may come our way.”

Romney’s campaign released a video Wednesday which highlighted Rick Perry’s low points in previous debates. One of Romney’s advisors has suggested Perry acted like a bully in this week’s debate. Romney himself seems to suggest tough treatment is to be expected.  

“I think it sort of goes with the territory if you’re going to get up on that stage, running for president, you ought to expect to face some tough questions and I have and I’ve asked some tough questions as well,” Romney said on KSCJ. “But we also recognize we’re all on the same team.  I think we’ve pretty much all said we feel that anyone on that stage would do a better job leading the country than President Obama and I sure feel that way.”

The intensity of the candidates is a reflection of their party, according to Romney.”So we’re going to face a lot of grilling, a lot of scrutiny and you know there’ll be a lot of information and misinformation,” Romney said. “But over time the American people sort things out pretty well and I think that’ll happen in this process.”

Romney made three campaign stops in western Iowa Thursday. He told a crowd in Sioux City any of the candidates would “love to win Iowa” and Romney said he’d be back to campaign “again and again” before the Caucuses.

Mitt Romney signs an autograph at an event in Sioux City.

It seems many in the crowd at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s event this morning in Sioux City could wind up backing Romney in the Iowa Caucuses, but they’re not yet ready to commit.  

Todd Barry of Sioux City is an independent voter who attended the Democratic Party’s Caucuses in 2008, but he’s concerned the country is headed in the wrong direction. Barry and his wife plan to attend the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses in 2012.

“We try and see a number of different candidates, but Romney’s one of the candidates I like very much,” Todd Barry said after listening to Romney this morning. “…I feel very strongly the economy and our country is the key issue and I think he’s got a good plan, a very positive plan.”

State Representative Chuck Soderberg, a Republican from Le Mars, endorsed Romney in 2008, but he hasn’t endorsed Romney’s 2012 bid.  So when will Soderberg decide on a candidate? 

“I’m not sure,” Soderberg said just before he was invited to sit behind Romney at the event. “Most likely before the Caucuses.” 

Soderberg said he’s like many Iowans who have been watching the televised debates and trying to evaluate the candidates.

Alan Lucken of Akron said he likes the “intelligence level” Romney has exhibited during the debates.

“He’s very sharp,” Lucken said. “He handles himself very well.”

Lucken isn’t an undecided voter, though. He’s a Romney supporter.

“He’s got such a strong business record,” Lucken said, “and I think that would surely help him with the economy.” 

Former Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants of Sioux City endorsed Romney’s last bid for the White House.  Rants is no longer in elected office. He’s working as a political consultant — Rants worked for a Michigan congressman who briefly ran for president this summer. During an interview this morning before Romney arrived, Rants said many Iowans were waiting until they knew for sure which candidates were out on the playing field.  

“Now that the field is set and the Caucuses are really just a couple of months away, people will start making up their minds,” Rants said, “and they’ll start making them up fast.”

 That makes Romney’s visit to Republican-rich northwest Iowa a timely one.  However, Rants also suggested Romney has to step up his ground game here in Iowa.

“Mitt’s challenge is can he go back to all those people who identified as supporters four years ago and line them up again without the same level of organization that he had four years ago,” Rants said. “Obviously, he doesn’t have the same amount of staff or is spending the same amount of money, but he ought to have a pretty good database of names.”

Romney is holding a roundtable discussion about the economy in Treynor over the noon-hour today. He’ll meet with members of the Chamber of Commerce in Council Bluffs late this afternoon.