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Mitt Romney, holding a call with bloggers, just noted that the Democratic race is seen as wide open even though the contests so far went 4-2, and on Republican side they went 3-3 for him and McCain. Yesterday, Dave Weigel explained why the GOP race is more rigged to the frontrunner.

Romney acknowledged that McCain's victory in Florida gives the Arizona Senator a "slight edge," and said McCain's "false charge" cost Romney votes in Florida.

He described this as a "two man race" for the "heart and soul of the Republican party." He made the historical analogy to the 1976 race where Republicans went for the establishment Gerald Ford over the conservative Ronald Reagan and ended up stuck with Jimmy Carter.

Romney blasted McCain as the "quintessential Washington insider," attacking him on campaign finance reform, immigration, drilling in ANWR, and his opposition to the Bush tax cuts.

He touted the endorsements of Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, as well as the fact that Rush Limbaugh is "going after McCain."

"The world of conservatism is considerably behind my effort," Romney said.

He also criticized McCain's comment in the debate the other day about punishing Wall Street. He "just doesn't understand how the economy works."

I asked Romney about the calls that his campaign made attacking McCain for voting against the prescription drug plan, he denied knowledge of them and said he'd "look into it." He said he would have voted the same way as McCain on the legislation. I will transcribe his full response and post as soon as I can.

topics:
NATO, Conservatism, Immigration