Romney warns his NH supporters not to ease off

Associated Press

TILTON, N.H.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney warned his supporters Friday not to rest just because polls show he has a commanding lead with those planning to vote in New Hampshire’s primary next week.

“Those polls, they can just disappear overnight,” Romney said as supporters enjoyed a spaghetti dinner. “What you say to a pollster is a bit like going on a date. It’s like, ‘Well, I’m going to try this, but getting married, that’s something else.’ We need to make sure you’re working real hard.”

Romney has led in New Hampshire polls for months — and two separate surveys out Friday show him up 20 percentage points or more over his closest rival, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Two debates loom this weekend, and both rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are looking to slow Romney ahead of the South Carolina primary if not in New Hampshire.

After weeks of insisting he wouldn’t go negative, Gingrich has called Romney a liar. On Friday, the former House speaker continued the criticism of Romney, saying that President Barack Obama would “laugh at him” in the general election.

Romney has defended negative campaigning as part of the primary crucible. But on Friday, he insisted he would support the GOP’s nominee and that “when it’s all over we ought to be able to hug” and go on to defeat Obama.

“We’ll put our egos and bruised feelings aside and come back and do what’s the right thing for our nation,” Romney said.