Romney pollster hopes for image boost from confab

TAMPA -- Mitt Romney's pollster said Sunday he is pleased with the campaign's standing

going into the Republican National Convention and hopes the three-day event will boost the public's comfort with Romney as well as his poll numbers.

Despite a summer of blistering ads from the Obama campaign and their allies, pollster Neil Newhouse said Democrats have been unable to significantly shake up the deadlocked race.

"We've been pounded on Mitt's record, on Mitt's character, and the race is closer at the end of the summer than it was at the beginning of the summer," Newhouse told USA TODAY. "So if the idea by the Obama folks was to kill Romney by the time of the convention, that didn't happen.

"Even more than a ballot bounce we are looking for an image bounce, we are looking for voters to learn more about who Mitt Romney is, what he stands for, his character and something they can connect with," he said.

The introduction of Romney is one of the primary goals of the convention, particularly to independent voters in swing states who might not like President Obama but are not sold on the man trying to replace him.

Newhouse acknowledged these voters have a "questionable" view of Romney but was confident that over the next few days a clearer picture would emerge of the candidate as a "as a person, as a businessman, as a governor and as a dad."

"Those voters, they are not undecided on Barack Obama, they have decided on Barack Obama, they know where they are on Barack Obama. Where they are undecided on is Mitt Romney," he said. "That's the question they have. They are ready to fire the incumbent, they aren't quite ready to hire the challenger.

"We are this close," he said, holding two fingers close together.

He said the addition of Rep. Paul Ryan to the ticket has made Romney more comfortable and natural on the stump. Newhouse said Ryan's "energy, his enthusiasm, his campaigning style and skill is rubbing off" on the former Massachusetts governor.

"I see a better Mitt Romney," he said.

Ryan has also helped put Wisconsin, a traditionally blue state, into play. Obama currently leads Romney 48% to 46% there, according to a RealClearPolitics average of recent surveys, but Newhouse predicted it would remain close rather be a temporary bounce from the pick of Ryan.

"I think it's real," he said.