The TicketFor the next 48 hours, to keep up with 2012 candidates in Iowa you’ll need a good GPS and a lot of gas
ATLANTIC, Iowa--Mitt Romney began his final campaign push before the caucuses by making a stop Sunday at a small diner in this tiny western Iowa town—which, unsurprisingly, could not fully accommodate his audience of voters and reporters.
It was the first stop of what will be a 625-mile cross-state journey over the next two days. The trip, which will literally take Romney from one side of the state to the other and back again, is focused on areas where the former Massachusetts governor did well four years ago.
The journey provides plenty of logistical challenges for reporters trying to keep up with Romney. The candidate is expected to fly across the state from Sunday's final event in Council Bluffs to Davenport, the site of an early morning rally Monday morning. But the reporters accompanying Romney face a grueling five-hour bus ride across the state Sunday night.
On Monday, Romney heads from Davenport to Dubuque, which will require another five hours of driving. He'll then hold an event in Marion, Iowa, before ending the night with a rally in Clive, located about an hour outside Des Moines.
Romney isn't the only Republican presidential candidate crisscrossing the state before Tuesday's caucuses. Ron Paul is set to hold events on Monday in Des Moines, Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls and Mason City. Anyone trying to keep pace with him would be driving for nearly 7 hours.
Paul will be traveling by plane, as many of the events are timed closely together--making it impossible for reporters to make every stop.
Newt Gingrich will kick off the final days of his bus tour in north central Iowa and then move through the eastern part of the state between now and Tuesday. His campaign stops include Ames, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids and Davenport.
Rick Santorum commenced his final trip in western Iowa, a region of the state packed with the social conservative voters who are fueling his rise in the polls.
Rick Perry will also be in western Iowa on Monday, beginning his last swing in Sioux City before concluding with a rally in the appropriately named Perry, Iowa.
Michele Bachmann began the last Sunday before Tuesday's caucuses by going to church in Oskaloosa, about an hour outside Des Moines. She had not announced any further public stops on Sunday or Monday, at the time this article was published.
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