Romney Says He'll Win Pennsylvania in November
CORNWALL, Pa. - Finishing the second day of his bus tour in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, an impassioned Mitt Romney declared that he would carry the Keystone State this fall.
Referencing remarks made during a warm-up speech by Rep. Jim Gerlach, in which he suggested the crowd would have to "convince" Romney that he can win Pennsylvania this fall, Romney came bounding off his bus to tweak the representative's remarks.
"He said that you guys need to convince me that I'm going to win Pennsylvania," Romney said. "I've got news for you, congressman, I am going to win Pennsylvania."
Romney showed no signs of exhaustion despite a jam-packed opening to his bus tour. The candidate appeared before hundreds in the backyard of a historical iron furnace, the last public event of a day that included no fewer than four television interviews, a speech given via satellite to the Faith and Freedom Coalition and three campaign events, including this evening's. Romney spent Friday weaving across New Hampshire on the first day of his tour.
Romney's six-state bus tour has three more days of events that will take the candidate through Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa - three other battleground states.
Follow along Romney's bus tour route with ABC's Google Map.
No Republican candidate has won Pennsylvania since George H.W. Bush in 1988, and John McCain lost the state to Barack Obama by more than 10 points in 2008. But Romney's remarks here today shed light on the campaign's belief that they can take the state and its 20 electoral votes this November.
A Quinnipiac poll released this week showed President Obama ahead in the Keystone State by six points, 46 percent to 40 percent. That's a statistical dead heat to the May Quinnipiac poll when Obama had an eight-point lead, 47 percent to 39 percent.
ABC News' Shushannah Walshe contributed to this report.