For Romney, the road to victory leads to Iowa

But even if Romney does all that, if he takes Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Florida and Ohio from the Obama column, he still has to win one more state from Obama’s ’08 total. It could be Wisconsin, it could be New Hampshire, it could be Colorado. But to judge by recent campaign activity, if Romney is fortunate to make it to the brink of electoral victory, the major battle for those last few electoral votes could be in the state where it all started: Iowa.

If, more than 80 days away from an election, the president of the United States spends three days riding around on a bus in a single state, as Barack Obama did in Iowa last week, you know that state is important. And if a newly picked vice presidential candidate heads straight to that state, as Ryan did last week, and if the Republican nominee plans to go there Wednesday and many more times before November — well, you know Iowa is important.

“I believe Iowa is the key to the presidency,” says Bob Vander Plaats, head of the Iowa social conservative group the Family Leader. “Our six electoral votes will be crucial.”…

“People have jobs, but the economy is sluggish, we’re in the middle of a drought, and people are sitting on money,” says Sam Clovis, the influential conservative radio host in Sioux City who also teaches business and economics at local Morningside College. “It’s the economy.” Iowans aren’t suffering the misery of high unemployment, but they’re not happy.