On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he is prepared for a primary race that goes all the way to the convention.
Romney is currently polling a strong second in Iowa, and thinks a win is “possible,” but is more optimistic about winning New Hampshire. If the primary comes to convention, the importance of early primary states, including Iowa and New Hampshire, will be diminished. The last time a GOP nominee was not decided until the convention was in 1976, and the last time it took more than one round of voting to decide the Republican nominee was in 1948.
“Absolutely, [a contested convention is] possible,” he said. “I don’t think it is likely, but it’s possible that this goes a long way. We have built enough resources and raised enough money to have a campaign that will go to the very, very end.”
“I think [winning in Iowa is] hard to predict at this stage,” he added. “Of course everyone wants to win Iowa. They want to win every state. All things are possible and I hope to do well. But you know, I think when we got into this this time around, Iowa would be a real stretch and New Hampshire —we hope to do well in New Hampshire.”
Host Joe Scarborough asked Romney if New Hampshire was a must-win primary. Romney replied that no single primary race is a must-win anymore.
“I don’t think today you have to win anything,” Romney said. “I think the only thing you have to win is 1,150 delegates. And we’ve seen some people have gone down and come back. If one of the people on the stage doesn’t win the first two, I wouldn’t write them off. One of those people could come surging — we’ve seen people surge from nothing to high numbers very quickly.”
Watch:
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