Romney to take greater control of message after second-place finishes

BEDFORD, N.H. - Republican Mitt Romney, a businessman-turned-politician, will take more direct control of his presidential campaign message after failing to win either the Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire primary, a top adviser said Tuesday.

Romney himself pledged a long fight for the GOP nomination. He held out his second-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, with a victory in Wyoming wedged between, as testimony to his 50-state strategy.

"There have been three races so far. I've gotten two silvers and one gold - thank-you Wyoming," Romney said in a spartan seven-minute address conceding the race.

"On to Michigan and South Carolina and Florida and Nevada," Romney added. "I'll fight to be back here in November in those states and others."

A Romney intimate, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the candidate, said the campaign was "going to take the shackles off, have him be less measured."

Romney aimed to stress that his work as a venture capitalist, Olympics CEO and Massachusetts governor leaves him better equipped than Mike Huckabee and John McCain - the winners in Iowa and New Hampshire - to compete against the eventual Democratic nominee.

Conceding Romney had been hurt by a backlash against the hard-hitting television commercials the former Massachusetts governor ran against Huckabee and McCain, the adviser said the campaign hoped to "get away from the paid media and get more of the earned media."

The shift would suggest a greater emphasis on generating newspaper, Internet and television coverage, especially in Michigan, where Romney was born and which is next on the primary calendar on Jan. 15. Romney flies to Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday after a fundraiser in Boston.

Earlier in the day, Romney said he expected the nomination fight to continue through Feb. 5, when 22 states vote. "I don't think the Republican Party wants to have only one person in this contest until the very end. I expect to be one of the two that's in it to the very end," he said.

During the final 24 hours of the New Hampshire campaign, Romney and his aides largely shed recent inhibitions, openly predicting a come-from-behind-victory against McCain. They claimed independents were breaking their way based on Romney's performance in a pair of weekend debates.

Nonetheless, Romney chided McCain and Huckabee for cherry-picking contests, with Huckabee having focused on Iowa while McCain focused on New Hampshire. Romney spent more than $7 million on advertising in each state, and held as many, if not more, events in both places than any of his GOP rivals.

Romney, 60, made hundreds of millions running Bain Capital before taking over the scandal-ridden 2002 Winter Olympic Games and returning them to profitability. He failed in his first bid for elective office, a 1994 effort to oust Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. But in 2002 he rode his wave of Olympic glory to a four-year term as the Bay State's governor.

A Mormon, Romney aggressively courted Christian conservatives - some of whom consider Mormons members of a cult - and in doing so brought the issue to the fore in the 2008 campaign.

Romney traveled to the George Bush Presidential Library in Texas last month to deliver a speech spelling out his views on faith in American politics.

Interviews Tuesday with voters exiting their polling places showed that about a fifth of New Hampshire GOP voters said they were born again or evangelical voters, compared to the six in 10 who said so in last week's Iowa Republican caucuses and boosted Huckabee to victory there.

Most New Hampshire Republicans said the top quality they were seeking in a candidate was someone who shared their values and is authentic. Romney was the big leader among those naming values, McCain among those seeking a candidate who says what he believes. About a quarter named experience, an area where McCain had a slight edge.

McCain was viewed as the strongest leader and most qualified to be commander in chief.

Romney, who aired ads critical of Huckabee and McCain in Iowa and New Hampshire, was seen more than the others as having waged a negative campaign, the exit survey found.