Romney views Maine win as sign of things to come

ST. LOUIS -- John McCain may have momentum going into Super Tuesday, but the message from Mitt Romney's campaign is You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.

The 1970s tune played repeatedly at a weekend event in Minnesota, an accompaniment to a campaign that insists conservative Republicans bent on keeping "the house that Reagan built" in order will reinvigorate his presidential bid.

While campaign strategists aren't saying that they will win a majority of delegates Tuesday, they instead point to Romney's win Saturday in Maine as a portent of surprising things to come. Romney won easily in the 21-delegate, non-binding caucuses despite endorsements for McCain from the state's two moderate GOP senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

"Maine is just as much a 'beauty contest' as Iowa is," said Russ Schriefer, Romney's media strategist. "We have taken the idea that a win is a win."

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won Iowa and hasn't won a contest since.

Romney is honing a message that McCain's positions on immigration and taxes are closer to Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton's and Barack Obama's than they are to the mainstream of the Republican Party.

"As Republicans start concentrating on this race, listening to conservative voices," Romney told reporters in Illinois, "they say we cannot let our party make that left turn" by nominating McCain.

Romney's campaign is paying attention to low-profile caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota and at a state GOP convention in West Virginia, where Romney will stay tonight. He sent his son Josh to Alaska and his wife, Ann, to Fargo, N.D., to campaign.

Romney isn't ignoring all the big prizes. His campaign this week bought $1.6 million in TV time in California and has launched a drive to win delegates who, under party rules, are divvied up proportionally by congressional district.

The campaign stopped Sunday in Illinois and plans to land in Atlanta today in hopes of gaining some delegates in Georgia.

Romney is not putting a big effort in the Northeastern states voting Tuesday.

Romney may find it difficult to make a lot of headway, said University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock. "Some of the most recent arrivals in the McCain camp would prefer Romney," he said, "but see no reason to leap onto the deck of a sinking ship."

Romney is gambling that his message aimed at conservatives — after taking more moderate positions as Massachusetts governor — will woo undecided voters like Sue Ek, 45, of St. Cloud, Minn.

"I like the idea of having a candidate where there's a clear difference to whomever we're going to be up against. That's part of what appeals to me with Romney," said Ek, who heard Romney speak in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. "If we're Republicans, we should have a candidate who represents the party platform."

Yet Ek said she might consider McCain if he has a better chance of beating the Democratic nominee.

Romney events have been quickly arranged, brief — he usually speaks for just 10 minutes — and confined to cramped venues.

Schriefer said the Romney campaign will depend more on free media going into Saturday's contests in Louisiana, Kansas and Washington state.

And, no matter what the delegate count is Wednesday morning, Romney insists he won't quit the race. "This is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party, he said. "I expect it to be an ongoing campaign."