Romney shifts from town halls to stumps

Mitt Romney answered his last question from a voter three weeks ago, and just about every day since then, he has swept through towns across America like a whistling train conductor proclaiming, "All aboard."

Out are 55-minute town hall meetings. In are 15-minute stump speeches at buffed-up rallies. There are rope lines and hot lights, giant flags and Secret Service agents with wires in their ears. The objective: appear presidential, avoid gaffes and convince Republicans that they have no reasonable option left but to rally around Romney's winning candidacy.

That was the image he presented in Las Vegas Saturday night with his Nevada caucus victory speech. Hundreds of adoring supporters waved "Nevada Believes" signs as the candidate assailed President Obama. Yet the music playing as soon as Romney finished speaking - "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley - underscored his new don't-ask-questions-just-get-on-board mantra.

As the former Massachusetts governor solidified his front-runner status with back-to-back decisive wins in Florida and Nevada, his confidence - and caution - have been on stark display. He has pivoted from a retail campaign based on convincing people at his events that he has a command of the issues to a made-for-television spectacle where the people are simply props helping project an aura of momentum and inevitability to a national audience.

"You need to really start focusing on 'I am your man, and I'm the guy that will move this party forward,' " said Lanny Wiles, a longtime advance operative on Republican presidential campaigns. "It gets down to crowd building and enthusiasm, but a lot of that (voter) interaction is gone. For right now, it's about pushing this train down the track as fast as you can."

This is a natural evolution for any presidential campaign. In the volatile 2012 sweepstakes, it marks an inflection point as Romney begins to claim the mantle of the presumptive nominee.

For a presidential candidate, there's no place more comfortable than at a rally, delivering a rehearsed spiel before hundreds of people who won't ask tough questions - or any at all - and instead clap and scream your name as if on cue.

"You're safe, you're steady, you don't put your candidate in a place where there could be any kind of a pitfall, you stick with the themes that have worked with you so far until you see reason to change them - and I don't see any reason," said one Romney adviser who requested anonymity to discuss the campaign's strategy.