HANOVER, N.H. ? Mitt Romney began making his closing argument to voters in his adopted home state on Wednesday.
Though he has long been favored to win the Granite State, Romney met some wariness on the trail over his record and weathered critiques from fellow opponents hoping to loosen his grip on the state's voters.
Continue ReadingRomney, who has been working New Hampshire for nearly five years, kicked off a three-day bus tour here to make his final pitch ahead of the Jan. 10 primary. The bus tour marks the former Massachusetts governor?s longest recent trip to a state his campaign sees as a must-win on his path toward the Republican nomination.
Romney is casting himself as the only candidate with both public and private-sector experience who can go head to head with President Barack Obama and put the American economy back on track.
After touring Hypertherm, a local business in Hanover, Romney met with employees to stress his job-creating abilities, pledging to "get America working like this country is working."
Romney also talked about cutting programs he said the country could no longer afford. One potential target under the Romney administration was PBS.
?I?m not going to make Big Bird go away, but there?s going to be advertisements on PBS if I?m elected president,? he said.
Romney chatted with Hypertherm employee Robert ?Bubba? Von Baltzer, 57, who was seated front and center. Von Baltzer said he liked what Romney said on the stump, but wanted assurance he could trust him to keep his word.
?I?ve seen presidents come and go since Eisenhower? I guess I?m older than dirt ? but what I?m trying to say is, what can you say to me and to other voters that are sitting here, that the promises that you?re making, that you can walk the talk??
Romney answered that he could be trusted because of his motives for running.
?For me, this run for office is not about the next step in my political career. I don?t have a political career, a lifetime looking for office after office to try to move my way up.? he said. "This for me, this decision to run for office is trying to get America right so our kids and our grandkids can live in a land that?s free and prosperous.?
?The reason I?m in this race is I think I can help restore America?s greatness and so I?m going to do everything I can to do that,? he added.
Though Romney is touting his private-sector bona fides on the trail, he faced scrutiny on the bus tour over his time at the helm of Bain Capital.
At the Hypertherm town hall in Hanover, Doug Kern, 56, of Croydon, pressed Romney on his tenure there, citing the campaign?s focus on job creation, as well as Romney?s personal wealth.
Romney told Kern, and others gathered in the cafeteria that Bain had invested in more than 100 businesses and ?some of them didn?t work, some failed.?
?Those are the realities of what it?s like to be in a competitive, free-enterprise system. And there are some who would say that businesses should never go out of business, but they will,? he said.
Romney argued his experience at Bain would make him a more powerful negotiator on the world stage.
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