Romney on the Rise?

A small crowd of about 50 people turned out for a Mitt Romney rally at the Tampa Convention Center Tuesday morning, but the half-empty room did nothing to tamp down Romney's primary-day enthusiasm. On the contrary, Romney, his wife Ann and his kids have seemed positively giddy today—sparking speculation among reporters that his internal polling might show the Florida primary going his way.

Public polls, of course, have shown the contest too close to call. But Romney has been on the rise. He has managed to pull even with John McCain in part by outspending the Arizona senator eight to one on Florida television ads, according to new figures released by the Nielsen Company. Romney has aired 4,475 TV ads in Florida, compared with McCain's 470. (Rudy Giuliani, who has slipped to fourth place in some soundings, aired 3,067.)

Romney's rally this morning happened to take place in the same room that McCain used for a shindig Monday night. It's a popular spot. Several hundred newly anointed American citizens gathered for an Immigration and Naturalization Service citizenship ceremony just down the hall from Romney's event today. The subject has been in the air. Romney—who has drawn fire for his proposal as Massachusetts governor to train state police officers to hunt illegal immigrants—has been attacking McCain in recent days for his immigration reform work with Democratic Sen. (and newly minted Barack Obama supporter) Edward Kennedy.

But Romney didn't let that stop him. He wasted no time making use of the new citizens' proximity for political purposes. "Right down the hall today, in this very building, there are 700 people assembled," Romney said. "These are people who have stood in line, most of them, for years and years and worked hard to come to this country legally. Those are people who are being sworn in as citizens of the United States of America, and we salute them. We say to the millions of people who have come to this country illegally, 'Get back in line!'"

At the end of the event Romney dragged a new citizen from the Philippines, 33-year-old Mary Grace Torralba, to the podium. He had some trouble pronouncing her last name, but, undeterred, Romney enthusiastically introduced Torralba to the crowd as a new citizen. He later greeted dozens of other new citizens in the conference center, congratulating them in quick succession. Torralba said in an interview that she likes Romney but was quick to add that she is unfamiliar with his position on immigration.

The crowd at the rally was diverse. In addition to the immigrants there was conservative Christian luminary Ralph Reed (who popped in to listen to Romney speak and chat up reporters), an adolescent girl holding a "Mitt is a Hottie" sign and Mike Freese, a 59-year-old Vietnam veteran who is retired from a career in law enforcement and is a self-identified "redneck for Romney." Freese, who was wearing a trucker hat with the logo "Git Her Done," said, "You always hear about the African-American voters and Hispanic American voters, but you don't hear about the redneck voters."