Romney Bets On Old Rules As Newt Moves Under Radar

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Investors Business Daily:

MANCHESTER, N.H. — "We're not going to lose in New Hampshire." So says Mitt Romney's state coordinator, Jason McBride.

Stuart Stevens, the Romney campaign's TV ad-maker, expresses similar confidence. Asked if Romney might finish second in New Hampshire, his answer is an unhesitating "no."

Whether that confidence is well founded may determine the fate of the candidate who has been the on-and-off frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

There are four contests in January —the Iowa caucuses, and then the primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. Romney currently trails Newt Gingrich in polls in three of the four. Only in the Granite State does he cling to the lead he has held in every poll there since April 2010.

If New Hampshire follows the pattern of past primaries, Romney should be headed for a win. In 2008, he only narrowly lost the state, 37% to 32%, to John McCain. He's been running ahead of that 32% in almost all polls this cycle.

He has been building an organization replete with field directors and voter-identification efforts since last May. An absentee ballot drive is getting underway.

McBride is confident that this organizational effort will deliver. "At the end of the day, the ground game is going to matter."

Romney has the support of seven of the 10 county sheriffs, of dozens of state legislators, of legions of Republican activists. Romney signs vastly outnumber those of other candidates on lawns and along highways.

His ads are on the air on Manchester's Channel 9 and will start airing soon on Boston stations.

The efforts of other candidates who have followed the traditional playbook so far seem to be falling short. Polling suggests that Ron Paul may double the 8% he won here in 2008.