Rock Rapids, IA—

Governor Romney launched his “Strong America” bus tour today with his wife Ann and changed his usual campaign speech to give his “closing arguments” to Iowa voters here at B and L Vintage Brew. The subdued crowd came out early to the café and heard Romney introduce a new tagline to try to persuade last minute undecideds,
”We don’t vote for yesterday, we do vote for tomorrow. The elections are about the future. They are about our future, our families’ future, our nation’s future.”

He then moved into the main tenets of his stump: fighting “global jihad” (strong military), economic global competitiveness (strong economy), and the strength of the American people (strong families). 
He also mentioned 9/11, emphasizing his experience, perhaps in reaction to the events in Pakistan:

“We also faced 9/11. We were the first event on the international stage, first national special security event after 9/11. I was able to turn those games around with the help of a lot of other great people and have safe games.”

He spoke about his father, George Romney who he mentions on the stump, but never his humble beginnings. Romney’s republican rival here, Mike Huckabee often talks of his meager beginnings. He seems to be trying to get away from the polished, privileged Romney, telling a story about his dad’s roots segueing into the importance of family:

“My dad had quite a career. He was raised impoverished, born in Mexico, actually. His parents came to the United States. They were American citizens, came to the United States and moved to Idaho and then I think Los Angeles for a while, ultimately Salt Lake City. His dad went bankrupt more than once and yet my dad without a college degree went on to become head of a car company. Then governor of Michigan, 3 terms, became a cabinet secretary in president Nixon’s cabinet…he said, ‘the great accomplishment of my life was raising you four kids and there’s no question in my view the greatest accomplishment in Ann and my life has been raising our 4 sons. “

done

Ann Romney also gave an impassioned address to voters almost the same length as her husband’s that will be her closing speech during the bus tour. She spoke about her husband as more than a businessman and instead a family man that supported her during her illness, Multiple Sclerosis, and while she was raising their five sons.