COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Mitt Romney’s path to victory in Iowa has never been clearer. 
 
 Potentially formidable rivals in the first-in-the-nation caucus state — such as Tim Pawlenty and Rick Perry – have stumbled badly or dropped out of the race. A handful of social conservative opponents are dividing up the voting bloc that powered Mike Huckabee’s campaign four years ago. 
 
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 And while Romney hasn’t built the battleship-sized caucus organization he had in 2008, none of his GOP challengers has, either. 
 
 It’s as if the less Romney does in Iowa, the more inviting the state becomes. 
 
 “The opportunity’s still there [for Romney] because, frankly, nobody’s got a ground game,” said former Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants, who supported Romney in 2008. 
 
 “I can’t figure out what they’re up to, because they have had a window,” Rants said of Romney’s campaign. “They could have come in three weeks ago and just knocked Perry out in Iowa. They chose not to.” 
 
 Tim Albrecht, a veteran of Romney’s last White House run who now serves as communications director for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, suggested Romney would benefit from an influx of new, economically-minded caucus-goers, as well as the disorganization of the GOP field. 
 
 “Anyone above and beyond the 118,000 who turned out last time will be looking for someone focused on fixing the economy and creating jobs. Mitt Romney will appeal to the new caucus-goers,” Albrecht said. 
 
 He continued: “It is amazing that we’re looking at November, and no campaign has announced a 99-county structure. When you organize for the caucus, announcing 99 county chairs is the first thing you check off on the list. This shows a caucus in flux.” 
 
 Even as the Iowa campaign has seemed to turn his way, Romney has continued to tread lightly here. His visit Thursday marked only his third trip to the state this year and his first since August. Romney has just five people on his Iowa payroll: His senior strategist, state director and three field staffers, along with unpaid volunteers. He hasn’t spent a dime on television or radio. 
 
 Iowa has noticed. 
 
 Asked at a Sioux City town hall meeting whether he planned to plant a flag more firmly in the state now that the caucuses are less than three months away, Romney answered carefully. 
 
 “I’d love to win Iowa. Any of us would,” he said. “You have an enormous say in who the next president’s gonna be.” 
 
 Romney’s message in Iowa was much the same message he’s delivered everywhere, focusing overwhelmingly on his business background and ideas for reviving the U.S. economy. 
 
 At several stops Thursday, Romney almost seemed to go out of his way to signal that he wasn’t trying to cater to local sympathies. At his town hall event, Romney rejected the idea of a national consumption tax – known to supporters as the “Fair Tax” – beloved by a population of activists who supported Huckabee in 2008. 
 
 He declared in staunchly conservative western Iowa that he didn’t favor a constitutional amendment banning abortion and wanted to “let the states create their own legislation with regard to life.” At a meeting with business leaders in Treynor, he repeatedly said he does not favor reviving subsidies for the ethanol industry that are scheduled to expire. 
 
 Romney has reason enough to avoid a big bet on Iowa. There is the unpleasant memory of 2008, when he finished a distant second to Huckabee despite committing significant resources to the state. He’s also so strong in other early presidential states – New Hampshire and Nevada – that he doesn’t necessarily have to win Iowa in order to be the GOP nominee. Trying too hard here and losing a second time could be embarrassing. ||||| Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com 
 
 SIOUX CITY, Iowa—Mitt Romney has kept a low profile in Iowa, spending time and money in other early-voting states as he competes for the Republican presidential nomination. Now, he sounds as if he may be rethinking his strategy. 
 
 "I'll be here again and again,'' Mr. Romney assured about 100 people at a campaign event Thursday morning. It was his first trip to the state since August. 
 
 "I want to get the support of the good people of Iowa,'' Mr. Romney told the audience at Morningside College. "I'd love to win in Iowa, any of us would, and so I'll campaign ...
– After getting burned badly by Iowa in 2008, Mitt Romney has generally been keeping his distance from the state this time around. But with no other single candidate gathering the support that Mike Huckabee won in the last election, Romney's strategy might be changing, reports the Wall Street Journal. "I'll be here again and again," he said on a visit there yesterday, only his third of the year. The reason: He's favored to win in New Hampshire, and if he combines that with an earlier win in Iowa on Jan. 3, his campaign may have unstoppable momentum. “The opportunity’s still there [for Romney] because, frankly, nobody’s got a ground game,” a former state House speaker tells Politico. Still, Romney has only a skeleton crew in the state, and both Politico and the Journal say it's anything but a slam dunk that he's conservative enough to win over the majority of caucus-goers. And if he expands his presence only to lose again, it could hurt. “I’d love to win Iowa. Any of us would,” said Romney yesterday. “You have an enormous say in who the next president’s gonna be."