'Corporations are people, my friend!' Romney told hecklers at the Iowa State Fair Thursday. Romney takes on critics in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa — Mitt Romney stopped by the Iowa State Fair on Thursday just long enough to give a preview of what could go wrong with his candidacy — and what could go right.

He gave Democrats video of what could be his general election downfall: “ Corporations are people, my friend!” he said, looking down from the Des Moines Register’s soapbox at a group of hecklers who kept yelling up at him about his position on Social Security.


But the line came as part of a confident, fiery exchange that showed the often-awkward Romney confronting critics head-on and engaging the surrounding crowd to support his arguments.

The group of hecklers who came to snag front-row hay-bale seats at the Iowa State Fair kept shouting at him: “I’m on Social Security!” one cried. “No, they’re not!” another answered when Romney delivered his corporation line.

“Hold on a moment, let me speak! Hold on a moment!” Romney insisted, his voice getting louder and louder. “You know what, I got a chance to … I’ll let you speak in a moment.”

He eventually relented and allowed the heckler to ask his question. They continued — but Romney was unfazed.

“I’m not going to raise taxes — that’s my answer,” he said. “And if you want someone who can raise taxes, you can vote for Barack Obama.”

“You don’t agree with that? That’s your right!” he said. “You may disagree with it — but that’s my view!”

The hundreds in the crowd — they had, over the course of the 15-minute speech, massed behind the hecklers and TV cameras — broke into loud, escalating applause, and they cheered Romney through the end of his speech.

The incident is dominating news accounts ahead of the major presidential debate in Ames on Thursday night. Democrats are hammering him for the corporation comment — could a corporation be Romney’s running mate? — and calling the remark a serious gaffe.

But for the candidate who has been labeled the “weak” or “nominal” front-runner in a fundamentally flawed field, Thursday’s was a command performance that demonstrated stump appeal and a firm delivery of his core economic message. Karl Rove even compared it to Ronald Reagan’s famous line: “I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green!” he said, demanding that he be allowed to make an opening statement at a 1980 Republican debate he funded.

After his speech, Romney spent more than an hour wandering through the fair, where he was mobbed by camera crews, reporters and fair attendees alike. He was asked for autographs and to have his picture taken. Romney happily obliged.

He strolled confidently through the fairgrounds. Not even CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell and her cameraman sidling up to ask a few follow-up questions could shake him.

“Norah, it’s nice to see you!” Romney said — before comfortably sidestepping her queries and shaking hands with the next visitor.

Romney flipped pork chops and tried one on a stick. He took pictures with kids. And he spent much of the afternoon with Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who affably introduced him to folks along the way.

The scene was dramatically different for former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who’s been cast himself as the anti-Romney, despite being another wealthy businessman Mormon ex-governor with establishment ties. Huntsman was also at the fair on Thursday as part of what might be his only visit to Iowa of the campaign. He stopped to see the butter cow — “To the world’s most famous butter cow, happy birthday!” he wrote on the card set up to celebrate the carving’s 100th year — and spoke briefly with reporters.

Most of the Iowans who saw him had no idea who Huntsman was. There were a few in the crowd at the soapbox who were expecting to see him come and speak — but he never arrived. Instead, he went to see the pigs in the livestock pavilion before leaving for the day.

Huntsman is, of course, skipping the straw poll and the Iowa caucuses in favor of the New Hampshire primary, where his moderate reputation could help him win. “We’re here to debate,” Huntsman told reporters in the morning, as he prepared for what will be his first time on stage with his opponents Thursday night. Huntsman said he was “laser-like focused on our three early states” — that is, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

Huntsman and Romney will both be gone from Iowa tomorrow, and attention will turn to Rep. Michele Bachmann and to Sarah Palin, who has promised an appearance at the State Fair on Friday. On Saturday, the straw poll could mean a serious blow for either Bachmann or former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

But by that point, the attention will have shifted again, this time to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential announcement in South Carolina — and to Perry’s main competition: Mitt Romney.