Essential Estrogen

11:34 a.m. -- The crowd continues to file in at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids for the "Ask Mitt Anything" campaign event in Ballentyne Auditorium. It appears as if the former Massachusetts governor is going to appear on stage at this event. They have an "Ask Mitt Anything" backdrop, flanked by two Kirkwood banners, also flanked by the United States and Iowa flags.

Staff is current standing idly on stage so Romney is either already in the building an in a private meeting or hasn't yet arrived at the facility.

11:39 a.m. -- The press gaggle has arrived and completely blocked the center aisle of the auditorium with their video cameras. Still photographers are marching back and forth throughout the venue, trying to determine where they can get the best shots. Most of us with laptops are positioned throughout the auditorium and somewhat attempting to hide our screens from the audience members beside us. Since there was no central press check-in, its difficult to say which media is represented.

11:45 a.m. -- Mitt has entered the stage and is receiving a standing ovation from those in the audience. The governor has requested that a woman by the name of "Joanie" come in... said he didn't want to start the program until he heard her "Whoa!" She was brought in from the hallway and provided the necessary "Whoa!" so we can now be underway.

There was a brief, but glowing introduction by Doug Gross and now Romney has the microphone.

"Joanie has this high squeel that you just can't mistake in an audience," Romney says. "You can just pick her out in the crowd."

11:51 a.m. -- Romney is giving a quick overview of his biography and how he has gotten involved in politics.

"I came into a state with a spending problem and I said I wouldn't raise taxes," he said. "People knew my Democratic opponent would probably do that."

He said when he took over in Massachusetts, he thought there would be a $1 billion budget problem. After he was elected, however, his team discovered there was a $3 billion budget deficit. He says that he combated that problem by cutting spending.

"We found ways to balance our budget by cutting excess spending," he said.

He said, "Washington is spending too much money" and that this is the time we need someone to go there who knows how to lasso spending.

11:56 a.m. -- Romney said he would start cutting spending with the Department of the Defense... although he says he has no plans to cut the military. He wants to add troops and ensure the troops we have are given the necessary equipment.

Romney has stopped the stump speech momentarily to acknowledge the Iowa Global Warming snowman who came into the auditorium.

"Did you all see the snowman come in?" Romney asked. "I saw him come in and I thought it was great. It's so great to have Al Gore here in costume." The audience responded with laughter.

12:00 p.m. -- While Romney is continuing his stump speech -- now hitting on "continue living in the house that Ronald Reagan built" -- I'm going to stop typing for a few minutes to shoot a video clip or two. I'll continue blogging when we get to the question and answer session.

12:10 p.m. -- The question and answer period is starting now.

First question: GOP Pro-Choice Group Target Romney with Ad Campaign was article in local newspaper. Group plans to run full page ad. How will Romney fight this smear tactic?

"I guess they just can't get over the fact that someone who is pro-choice becomes pro-life... the media just can't get enough of it," he said. "If you go the other route, you are heralded."

Next question: Younger man says he is an avid listener of talk radio. What will you do if the Congress and Bush have still not built the border fence?

"I welcome people coming here legally," he said. "Some people on other side of the issue, who favor illegal immigration, continue to paint me and others as anti-immigrant."

A fence and border patrol agents will make a diference, he said. He said the border agents how long it takes for a person to get past the wall and was told 40 seconds. Guards told him that to stop illegal immigration, he would have to turn off magnets. The magnets have to do with companies that hire undocumented workers.

"Change the sanctuary state of mind that exists," he said is another magnet.

12:18 p.m. -- Romney said he doesn't favor offering tuition breaks to undocumented workers and their children. "I will fight to ensure we live by the rule of law," he said.

Third question: A female college student... Do you support Bush and his efforts to set up a long-term military presence in Iraq?

"We have such bases in the region," he said. "I do not believe we should withdrawal from Iraq. We need to make sure [terrorist organizations] cannot have a safe haven in Iraq. The surge is working to prevent those groups from setting up a safe haven in Iraq."

"It is important to me that we get the job done," he said. "I will not walk out of Iraq until that job is done."

Fourth question, from another younger woman. She held up a card to read her question from. "Tell Hillary I said hello, will ya?" asked Romney and the audience laughed.

The question has to do with AIDS prevention in our nation and abroad.

"I'm pretty proud of the fact that everyone else is talking about [health care], but I've actually done it," he said.

"My plan gets every citizen insured within four years of its passage," he said. He added that this would include people with all types of pre-existing conditions such as diabetes. I'm going to go back and review the recording of this answer, because I'm not sure that Romney has mentioned HIV/AIDS in his answer.

12:25 p.m. -- The next questioner is a woman in her late 30s or early 40s. THis is also an AIDS question... this one having to do with global AIDS with a focus on Africa.

"There is no question that we care about the conditions in the world in poverty, sickness or disease," he said. "But I have to be honest with you that my first responsiblity is to the United States." The audience reacted to this positively... many whoops and applause.

Romney says he will work with other nations of the world to make adjustments and improvements. He won't give specific numbers, he said, because he hasn't finished the budget yet.

I can't see the next questioner, but it is also a woman's voice. She is asking about immigration. She wants us to issue citizen and non-citizen birth certificates. Effectively, making children of people who come into the country illegal with no status as citizens.

Romney said he doesn't know if the Constitution would allow that; however, he said he does disagree with "anchor babies."

Another female questioner, young voice, who wants to know about returning rights to the states.

Romney says that we need to reverse the encroachment that has happened. He wants to see, for instance, he says, Roe v. Wade overturned. He does think the federal government has a role in defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The reason, he says, that marriage is a status -- if you get married one place and move someplace else, you're still married.

12:30 p.m. -- 90 percent of land in Nevada is owned or managed by the federal government, he said. "You need to leave to the governors what to do for the people," he said.

An older man wants to know about Romney's religion.

Class is about to start and many of the young people in the audience are getting up and filing out of the auditorium.

"I'm proud of my faith," he said. "It is the faith of my fathers."

"I want to assure that if I become President of the United States that I believe I'm subscribing to America's Political Religion."

He says that religion calls for upholding the Constitution and abiding by the laws.

Next questioner is a voice I know... Mike Carberry of Iowa Global Warming. How would you address the challenge on a global basis?

Romney says he believes there is a lot we can do right now to reduce our greenhouse emissions. This would give us better security and would strengthen our economy, he said.

He mentioned briefly "caps" and "targets" and a few members of the audience expressed their disapproval of the idea. Romney said China and India also need to contribute and if they are not included, it will damage American business.

It looks like staff is moving in.... yes, that's the case and Romney is wrapping up. He says thanks to everyone and that this is his fourth visit to Linn County.

"We need to remember how important it is for American to remain the strongest nation on earth," he said.

The audience is providing him a standing ovation upon his final "thank you." Dec. 12 -- says a voice from the stage, no longer visable because of the all the people who moved forward to shake hands -- Romney will be back in town for a holiday party.

That's it from Kirkwood. I'll sit here and see if I can get the video quickly processed and will add it into the liveblog once it's complete.