Romney takes detour on bus trip to avoid campaign stop where protesters outnumbered supporters

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 17:33 EST, 16 June 2012 | UPDATED: 07:46 EST, 17 June 2012

Mitt Romney's bus tour through the crucial swing states which he hopes will propel him into the White House in November was forced to take a detour by a group of protestors on Saturday.

The former governor of Massachusetts rerouted his tour after Pennsylvania's former governor Ed Rendell, joined by a large group of protesters, held a press conference outside the Wawa gas station where he had planned an early afternoon stop.

So Mr Romney decided to visit a different Wawa store instead, initially joking that he had made the switch 'just to get a good sandwich'.

Grabbing lunch: But Mitt Romney moved from one Wawa store to another after his original destination attracted a large demonstration

Protest: Around 200 people turned up at the planned campaign spot, outnumbering Mr Romney's supporters

'Why we're at this Wawa, instead of the other Wawa?' Mr Romney said as he paid for a meatball hoagie.

'I understand I had a surrogate over there already, so we decided to pick a different place. My surrogate is former Governor Rendell, who said we could win Pennsylvania.'

Instead of making prepared remarks to the crowd gathered outside the first location, the Republican candidate's bus went instead to the second Quakertown Wawa and made a quick tour through the store.

He was greeted by a Little League team along with a few dozen supporters, and said: 'I wondered how you knew we'd be here.'

Around 200 demonstrators had gathered at the original destination, outnumbering the candidate's backers as they chanted: 'Hey, ho, Mitt Romney's got to go.'

Choices: Mr Romney picks out the ingredients for his sandwich at Wawa

Greeting: Mr Romney met a Little League team but wondered how they had known where to find him

The detour threw Mr Romney off the jobs-and-economy message he had been pushing earlier in the day.

'I think we have to have a very careful review of who's giving a fair shot to the American people,' he told a crowd of several hundred packed into a warehouse at Weatherly Casting and Machine Co., next to the train tracks that run through Weatherly, about 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Criticizing the President, Mr Romney slipped and referred to Barack Obama as a 'governor.'

'Governor might have been a better job for him to have started with,' Mr Romney joked.

The stop was the first of three planned appearances in small towns in this state with 20 electoral votes that Mr Obama won in 2008 with 54 per cent. No Republican presidential nominee has carried the state since 1988.

Speech: The candidate earlier pushed his economic message at a steelworks

Demonstration: But he was also met with opposition from a handful of protesters outside the Weatherly Casting Company

Mr Romney appeared with former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, a possible running mate, who told the crowd, 'Mitt Romney's message is: it will be better.'

The tour is intended to challenge Mr Obama in states where he is strong. Mr Romney is targeting smaller cities and towns through the state's more conservative midsection. Weatherly is in Carbon County, which Mr Obama narrowly carried in 2008.

Mr Romney was also scheduled to stop in Quakertown, in Bucks County, as well as at Cornwall Iron Furnace, a national historic landmark.

The candidate is on a bus tour, but he planned to fly each night to the next state and ride from town to town during the day.

It is his first traditional campaign swing since the primary and is aimed at undecided voters in six pivotal states won by Mr Obama four years ago: New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa.

Tongue in cheek: Mr Romney left this note for reporters following his tour on their own press bus

The tour represents a new mode for Mr Romney in the general election. During the primary, he sometimes ran into trouble in less-scripted environments, and the bus tour will probably test him again. He also has long faced questions about his ability to connect with average people.

The last time Mr Romney was in Pennsylvania, he campaigned with Florida senator Marco Rubio, and said he was 'studying' the Cuban-American's ideas for legislation that would allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the country to work.

The opening of Mr Romney's six-state, five-day tour was overshadowed by Mr Obama's announcement on Friday that the U.S. would no longer deport some young illegal immigrants who came to the country as children.

In response, the Republican softened the harsh rhetoric he used in addressing illegal immigration during the contentious GOP primary campaign