The Ballot 2012

Mitt Romney Makes Final Pitch to NH Voters

January 10, 2012 RSS Feed Print

Energy was high at a rally for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney held at a middle school in Bedford – a small town just outside Manchester on Monday night. The Republican presidential candidate worked the audience in his last event before votes are cast beginning Tuesday morning.

Supporters and press alike were turned away from the doors because the venue reached capacity at about 1,100 people.

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Romney sounded like a front-runner, confidently conversing with an Occupy Wall Street protester who interrupted his remarks. After about a minute of rival chants as Romney's supporters tried to drown out a small group of protesters, Romney said, "How about you talk? Instead of shouting, why don't you just say what you believe? What do you think?"

Romney focused on decrying President Barack Obama and ignored his GOP rivals, despite taking shots from all sides throughout the day.

"I think President Obama would change the culture and the nature of this country. I think he wants to make us more like a European welfare state," he said. "This country is too important to hand over to President Obama a second term."

Outside the event, other protesters were stirring up trouble. A pair of "occupiers" was seen attaching a derisive sign onto Romney's campaign bus and on a nearby corner, about a dozen Ron Paul supporters held up large signs and made noise for cars driving by. One held a sign that read, "Freedom is popular, Ron Paul 2012."

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But inside, a fiery Romney gave his final pitch to the New Hampshire voters he is banking on to grant him victory Tuesday night.

"We're going to stand up for freedom and live free or die means freedom for us and for our kids," he shouted. "You're going to make a big statement tomorrow, let's take it to the next state after New Hampshire, and give me the boost I need, I hope!"