"I don't want to be overconfident," said the Republican front-runner. But increasingly, he was talking about his plans for challenging President Barack Obama in the fall, not his primary foes of the moment.
Running out of time, his GOP rivals showed no sign of surrender.
Newt Gingrich welcomed Romney into the first Southern primary state with a fresh attack on his business career and a new television ad painting him as a flip-flopper on abortion. Said former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, "South Carolina is going to be different. It is wide open for anyone." Texas Gov. Rick Perry drawled his way through a busy campaign day, displaying a Southern attribute that Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, could not hope to match.
But on the morning after a solid win in New Hampshire, Romney got help from two unlikely sources.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who ran second in New Hampshire, chastised Gingrich and Perry for criticizing the front-runner's experience as a venture capitalist whose firm acquired, slimmed down and then spun off existing companies, often earning large profits in the process.
"I just wonder whether they're totally ignorant of economics or whether they're willing to demagogue just with the hopes of getting a vote or two," he said, without mentioning anyone by name.
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint echoed Paul's remarks, and declared, "I think Romney's going to win here. ... He's hitting a lot of hot buttons for me about balancing the budget, and frankly I'm a little concerned about the few Republicans who have criticized some of what I consider to be free market principles here."
DeMint has been lobbied heavily by several of the presidential contenders eager for his endorsement and has so far chosen to remain neutral. Still, the remarks by a man who has sometimes taken the tea party's side in clashes with the Republican establishment sent a clear signal that Romney was to be viewed as worthy of support.
The day's events marked the unofficial start of a 10-day campaign that includes a pair of televised debates, millions of dollars in television ads and the first competition of the year in a state with high unemployment, a major military presence and a large population of evangelicals. Joblessness in South Carolina, at 9.9 percent, is almost as high as in Iowa (5.7 percent) and New Hampshire (5.2 percent) combined. By some estimates, as much as 60 percent of the primary electorate here is comprised of evangelicals.
Culturally and historically, the state has relatively little in common with either Iowa or New Hampshire.
Southwesterner Perry tried to emphasize a regional affinity.
"There wouldn't be a Texas without South Carolina," Perry said, referring to the Southern fighters who helped Texas gain independence from Mexico in the 1830s. As the other contenders arrived, his campaign began airing a television commercial in which decorated military veterans vouched for his commitment to the armed forces.
Given the political state of play, a victory by Romney could signal a quick end to what for months looked like it might be a long war of attrition for the nomination.
Gingrich conceded as much. "There's no more time for talking about stopping Mitt Romney," he wrote in a "Dear Conservative" fundraising appeal. "We're going to do it next week in South Carolina or he's almost certain to be the Republican nominee."
On the other hand, should Romney stumble, it would call into question his ability to win Southern primaries, and no Republican in 30 years has won the nomination without a first-place finish in the state.
On the morning after his victory in New Hampshire, polls show him ahead in the state, but he sought to manage expectations.
"I don't know if we can win South Carolina," he said, noting that he finished fourth here in 2008, the first time he sought the White House.
At the same time, he parried questions about his conservatism and the possible impact his Mormon faith would have on his efforts.
"The conservatives in New Hampshire, the people who called themselves very conservative, the tea partyers in New Hampshire, supported me," he said.
As for religion, he said, "There are people who want to elect a commander in chief. They're not worried about electing a pastor in chief.
Interviews on Tuesday with New Hampshire voters as they left their polling places showed Romney outpaced his rivals among people who called themselves very conservative, somewhat conservative and moderate to liberal.
He drew 21 percent support among white evangelical voters, a better showing than any other contender, and the backing of 51 percent of the voters who said they support the tea party, more than double what he gained in the Iowa caucuses a week earlier.
Perhaps most significant was his strength among primary goers who said the ability to defeat Obama was the most important factor for them as they settled on a candidate. Romney won the votes of 63 percent of those, improving on the 48 percent from the same category in Iowa.
As if to demonstrate Romney's strength, his campaign announced it had $19 million cash on hand and rolled out a Spanish-language television commercial in advance of Florida's Jan. 31 primary.
The former governor brushed aside the advertising attack from Gingrich, saying, "Like Ronald Reagan before me, many years ago I changed from being pro-choice to pro-life." It was a pointed rebuttal to the former House speaker, who has campaigned for months as the true conservative heir to Reagan.
I think it's not wise to base an entire nomination on a first state that allows independants and liberals to vote and then a second state that is not really representative of the country and also allows anyone to vote. I think SC will be a better representation of what's going on. We still have 60-70% voting for anyone but Romney. I would like to see more debates and then all elections held on one day for the nominee. Enough of all this state by state saturation coverage. It's too much. Let them debate and let's get the money out of this as much as possible. Remove the superpacs, remove the political ads, go with debates and web sites and q and A's on web sites, and only allow republican's to vote in theirs and dems to vote in theirs. And by the way, if anyone can see a way to get rid of the 2 party system, bring it!
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