Hundreds of Romney volunteers make final New Hampshire push

Reporting from Derry, N.H. -- — As the Republican candidates prepared for their first of two back-to-back debates, Mitt Romney’s campaign deployed hundreds of volunteers for a final weekend push – with the goal of making 150,000 additional voter calls and knocking on 10,000 doors before Tuesday afternoon.

As hundreds of local volunteers and about 500 from other parts of the country fanned out across the state, Romney campaigned Saturday on the eastern side of Rockingham County, the second most populous county in New Hampshire, in Derry, where he beat John McCain by 330 votes in the 2008 presidential race. Looking ahead to the general election race, Romney noted that President Obama had held a rally at the same spot – Pinkerton Academy – four years ago, almost to the day.

“Candidate Barack Obama was here speaking; he said he was going to bring big things to America. Well he did, but they came with big price tags and they didn’t work out so well,” he said, criticizing Obama’s healthcare plan, accusing him of running up “massive deficits” and promising to make him a one-term president.

The former Massachusetts Governor reminded voters, as he did last night at a spaghetti dinner in Tilton, that his poll numbers could evaporate. The latest Suffolk University/7News tracking poll released Saturday showed Romney at 39%, Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 17%, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 10% and Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman tied at 9%.

“Don’t get too confident with those poll numbers,” the candidate said in Derry. “I’ve watched polls come and go – things change very quickly. It’s very fluid.”

Romney state director Jason McBride said his biggest concern was making sure that voters turn out in spite of Romney’s huge lead in the polls. He said the campaign was “working hard against complacency.”

“We’re going to work very hard to motivate our people to get out and vote,” McBride said. “Look what happened in Iowa,” he added, referring to the Iowa caucuses that Romney won by eight votes. “You’ve got to keep pushing, pushing, pushing until 8 o’clock on Tuesday.”

Romney leaned on two of his star surrogates to help deliver that get-out-the-vote push: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte. Haley, who flew up with Romney from South Carolina after campaigning with him there earlier this week, told the crowd they needed to deliver Romney a landslide in New Hampshire.

“All eyes are on New Hampshire,” Haley told the crowd of hundreds of people in Derry. “They’re watching you to see how strong [a level] of support you’re going to send him to South Carolina with. You take care of him here in New Hampshire; I’ll take care of him in South Carolina and let him take care of us when he gets to the White House.”

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