Romney Celebrates Christmas With 1,500 Supporters In Des Moines

An upbeat Mitt Romney celebrated Christmas with 1,500 supporters on Wednesday night, avoiding the criticism he’s leveled at other top-tier candidates in the past few weeks and instead reminding his base that every vote will count in the Republican Caucus on Jan. 3.

The gathering was the largest the campaign has seen since Romney announced his candidacy earlier this year, particularly impressive because it was held on a day when scores of Iowans were busy finishing up their holiday shopping and at a time when many people were just getting off work.

The parking lot at the West Des Moines hotel where the event was held looked like Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving; dozens of people were forced to park at the home improvement superstore next door and then scale a mound of snow, a remnant of last week’s blizzard, in order to make it to the party. Inside, supporters kept several cash bars busy and lined up for appetizers and Christmas cookies.

The event was held on a day when several polls show that the Republican race is again tightening. Mike Huckabee, who enjoyed a double-digit lead in most polls just a week ago, is now within striking distance for Romney. A Rasmussen Reports survey on Thursday showed the race a virtual dead heat between the two front-runners, with Huckabee favored by 28 percent of voters and Romney the choice of 27 percent. An Insider Advantage poll shows Romney ahead of Huckabee, 28 to 25, among likely caucus voters. Both polls claim a margin of error of about four points.Romney has benefited from a rash of stories by the national media examining Huckabee’s record as governor, including his endorsement of legislation providing that would provide tuition assistance to children of illegal immigrants, tax hikes implemented while he was in office, and the controversy surrounding clemency for hundreds of convicted felons.

Some of that information has also been highlighted in television commercials that Romney has run in Iowa, and he’s minced few words criticizing Huckabee while speaking to voters and members of the media.

But on Wednesday, perhaps in keeping with the spirit of the holiday, he avoided discussing the weaknesses of all his opponents, instead using the occasion to thank his supporters and encourage them to continue their work for his campaign. His speech on Wednesday – a 25 minute address that included scores of anecdotes that reporters and his staff have heard dozens of times – focused mostly on family values. But he peppered his remarks with new stories about Christmas memories.

By doing so, Romney seems to be borrowing a page from the Huckabee playbook. Huckabee’s latest television commercial is a straightforward Christmas greeting to voters. In it, he invokes the name Christ, possibly for the first time ever in a broadcast ad by a presidential candidate. Critics say it’s a blatant attempt by the campaign to remind church-going Iowans of Huckabee’s evangelical pedigree.

The event also gave Romney a chance to show the gaggle of reporters at the event that his staff has the capacity to bring out supporters in large numbers and to highlight, one more time, the stature of his most high-profile supporters. Among those in attendance were former Gov. Terry Branstad (who won’t endorse a candidate but has attended several Romney events and whose son works for the campaign), former gubernatorial candidate Doug Gross, State Rep. Christopher Rants, and Des Moines businessman Marvin Pomerantz.