MASON CITY, Iowa — A confident-sounding Mitt Romney bused through northern Iowa yesterday and didn’t even take shots at his GOP rivals — telling Iowans he can beat President Obama, as a new Rasmussen poll showed him seizing his biggest lead yet over the president.
“I hope, as you look at the people running, you can measure their capacity to lead effectively and you can also determine whether they can become our nominee and defeat President Obama,” Romney told a crowdin Mason City. “I think I can.”
The Rasmussen Daily Tracking poll, taken from Dec. 27 to Dec. 28, put Romney ahead of Obama in a head-to-head matchup by a margin of 45 percent to 39 percent — his largest lead to date in the poll.
A week ago, the same poll had Obama up over Romney by a 44-to-41 margin.
With a renewed emphasis on Iowa, Romney’s campaign announced that he’ll spend this Tuesday, the evening of the caucuses, in the state — with plans to barnstorm the region over the weekend after a another trip to New Hampshire.
Even his new ad lays off his GOP opponents and focuses on his vision for the nation, including shots of Americana like a red Mustang and images of Iowa cornfields.