Reloading in Reno: Romney looks past Gingrich, blasts Obama

Presenting himself as the presumptive GOP nominee, Mitt Romney focused his attention on President Barack Obama in a Thursday speech in Reno.

Romney - coming off a 14.5 percent win in Florida on Tuesday - never once mentioned Newt Gingrich, his biggest rival.

He told a standing-room-only crowd at a south Reno meeting hall that Obama's policies are "hurting the country."

About 600 people packed The Grove for his speech, while about 200 more outside couldn't get in because the fire marshal wouldn't allow it.

Romney appeased those outside with a brief speech to them before entering the hall.

"I'm anxious to get him out of office," he said of Obama. "So we can get Americans working again, get the economy growing again." Romney is the favorite heading into Saturday's Nevada Republican caucuses.

He said that people are suffering because of Obama's mishandling of the economy and that the median family income in America has decreased by 10 percent in the past three years.

Romney quoted Thomas Paine from the American Revolution as saying people have three choices: Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

"This president's policies have not worked," Romney said. "He was elected to lead. He chose to follow, and now it's time to get out of the way,"

Romney said that from succeeding in private industry, to rescuing the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah, to getting Massachusetts out of a $3 billion debt, he has proven leadership skills that he will take to Washington, D.C.

"This isn't just about replacing a president," he said. "It's about setting a course for America."

Romney charged that Obama's policies would lead the country into greater and greater debt.

"I will not just slow the growth of government," he said. "I will get rid of some of them. I will cut, cap and balance the budget."

But he made it clear that under a Romney administration, those cuts wouldn't be to the military. Where Obama has proposed $500 billion in cuts in military spending, Romney said he would add an 11th aircraft carrier group, modernize the Air Force and expand the active-duty military force by 50,000 to 100,000 troops instead of reducing it.

"A strong military is the best preventer of conflict," he said. "I want a military so strong nobody would even think of testing it."

He also said he would repeal the health care package "and return your health care to you and private providers."

Introducing Romney, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki said the overflow crowd was "a good sign."

"All the momentum from Florida is here now," he said.

Romney won the 2008 Nevada caucus with 51.1 percent. Ron Paul, also a GOP candidate for president this year, finished second in the state that year, with 13.7 percent.

One of the reasons Romney, a Mormon, is favorited is his ability to carry Nevada's Mormon vote. Roughly nine in 10 Mormon voters backed Romney in 2008 in the Nevada caucuses, fueling his easy victory in a contest most candidates conceded to him.

"Along with seniors, they are as reliable of a voting bloc as there is," said Robert Uithoven, a Republican consultant based in Reno. "I don't care if it is snowing sideways on Election Day - they show up."

There are just over 175,000 Mormons in the state, roughly 7 percent of Nevada's population. But they carry more clout than that because they turn out in such high numbers. Nearly a quarter of all 2008 Republican presidential caucus voters here were Mormon.

With so much at stake, Paul, former House Speaker Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania are working to make their own cases that they share Mormon values. But it's hard to compete with Romney's support from his church brothers and sisters.

Nevada is the first state in the Republican nomination fight where that could make much of a difference.

Whereas Romney's faith was widely viewed nationally as a liability in 2008, running as a Mormon in the West guarantees a built-in voting bloc. Nearly 2.9 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, California and Arizona. By contrast, according to church estimates, there are barely 206,000 Mormons in the first four GOP primary or caucus states - New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Florida.

• The Associated Press contributed to this story.