Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney - who has recently toughened his stance against abortion and same-sex marriage - tested his views on a New Hampshire audience yesterday. Despite the rightward shift, which has prompted charges of political opportunism, many of those who attended the holiday party were ready to embrace the new Mitt Romney, who is weighing a run for the White House.

"I think people can have a change of heart," said Chris Buonopane of Deerfield. "I think he'd be great. The country needs to return to our core values," which Buonopane described as "family values" and "life values."

When running for statewide office in Massachusetts, Romney voiced support for "the substance" of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that recognized a constitutional right to an abortion. He said he would support measures to expand access to emergency contraception, according to the abortion rights group Planned Parenthood. But since becoming governor of Massachusetts in 2002, Romney has grown increasingly opposed to abortion. Last year, he declared himself pro-life.

To many of the guests at the Manchester party - which was hosted by Romney's political action committee - the reasons behind Romney's shift were irrelevant.

"I like where he is now," said Donna Sytek, who served as the Republican House speaker in the late 1990s and who recently agreed to support Romney if he makes a presidential run.

"He's conservative enough for my taste. I'm very strong on life issues. He made some courageous vetoes," said Sytek, referring to Romney's veto of a bill that would allow scientists to use human embryos created for research.

Yesterday, Romney repeated what has become an oft-cited account of his evolution. Two years ago, he met with "a couple of individuals" about stem cell research. One of those individuals, according to Romney, said "Governor, there's not really a moral issue here because we destroy the embryos at 14 days."

"It just hit me at that point that we had so cheapened the value of human life in this country that we were going down a very dangerous road," Romney said. "I somehow imagined trays of embryos growing and being experimented upon, and then killed or destroyed." From that moment on, Romney said, he considered himself pro-life.

Harvard University scientist Douglas Melton, who was in that fateful meeting, has disputed Romney's telling. "Governor Romney has mischaracterized my position; we didn't discuss killing or anything related to it," he recently said, according to the Boston Globe. I "told him about my deeply held respect for life, and explained that my work focuses on improving the lives of those suffering from debilitating diseases."

But Karen Testerman, a conservative activist from Franklin, considered Romney's explanation sincere. "He did something that was very rare in politics: To admit he made a mistake," Testerman said.

As for same-sex marriage, Romney's opposition to the Massachusetts high court's 2003 decision to allow gay marriage drew cheers and praise yesterday. When running for Massachusetts office, Romney implored Republicans to provide "more support" for the gay and lesbian community. But in recent months, Romney has made headlines for his attempts ask the court to bypass the Legislature and let residents vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. On the national stage, he publicly supported a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

"He recognizes the importance of marriage in society," said Liz Feren of Hooksett. "He's not afraid to explain to you why he believes what he believes, and he doesn't run his opinions by polls."

Romney strove yesterday to reconcile his early comments with his new rhetoric. "People should have equal opportunities in employment and housing and so forth," he said. But "as much as I feel in America that we shouldn't discriminate against people, I also feel that marriage should be about a relationship between a man and a woman. And a child deserves a mom and a dad."

The suit-and-tie crowd, more than 100-strong, included the curious as well as the convinced. And if a dozen informal interviews were any indication, Romney's business experience drew just as many onlookers as his stance on social issues.

"His message about having faith in the creative part of the public sector is a key issue," said Tom Keane of Bow. "Personal freedom and personal responsibility: He exudes that model."

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