Mitt Romney, under suspicion by many conservatives because of his past as a center-right governor and political candidate, tried to make himself clear Friday:

"I know conservatism because I have lived conservatism."

The former Massachusetts governor got a good response from the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a three day convention of activists.

Here's how Romney explained his conservatism:

"I was raised in a home shaped by and rooted in conservative values. My mother’s father – my grandfather – came to America from England.  As a teenager, he was alone in a new country, but he risked it all for a chance at religious liberty and economic opportunity.

"You’ve probably heard how proud I am of my father.  He was born to American parents living in Mexico.  When he was five, they moved back to the United States.  His dad was a builder who went bust more than once.  My Dad grew up poor and never had a chance to finish his college degree.  But he believed in a country where the circumstances of one’s birth were not a barrier to achievement.  And with hard work, he became the head of a car company and the Governor of the great state of Michigan.

"The values that allowed my parents to achieve their dreams are the same values they instilled in my siblings and me.  Those aren’t values I just talk about; they are values that I live every day.  My 42-year marriage to my wife, Ann; the life we’ve built with our five sons; and the faith that sustains us – these conservative constants have shaped my life.

"In business, if you’re not fiscally conservative, you’re bankrupt.  I spent 25 years balancing budgets, eliminating waste, and keeping as far away from government as was humanly possible. I did things conservatism is designed for – I started new businesses and turned around broken ones. And I am not ashamed to say that I was very successful at it."

Mitt Romney could be in for a rough night Tuesday, as polls suggest former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has a chance to win the Minnesota caucuses.

Romney's camp put out a memo Tuesday morning that looks ahead, and perhaps tries to lessen the impact of the Tuesday result.

"It is difficult to see what (former Massachusetts) Governor Romney’s opponents can do to change the dynamics of the race in February," said political director Rich Beeson in the memo. "No delegates will be awarded on February 7 -- Colorado and Minnesota hold caucuses with nonbinding preference polls, and the Missouri primary is purely a beauty contest.

"Except for the Maine and Wyoming nonbinding caucuses running through February, the next contests are on February 28 in states where Governor Romney is strong. Arizona’s 29 delegates will be bound in a winner-take-all contest. Michigan, the state where Governor Romney grew up, binds 30 delegates"

Beeson then looked ahead to March, with optimism.

"The rules for the March states offer even less comfort to Governor Romney’s opponents. With so many states and territories voting, organization and resources are key. Ours is the only campaign to be active in all of these states, and we have the resources and organization to maximize delegate totals according to each state’s rules," he said.

Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul all see possibilities in March. Gingrich and Santorum eye southern states holding primaries and caucuses, where GOP voters tend to be more conservative. Paul is pushing hard in caucus states.

Beeson says he's unworried. "Governor Romney is the only candidate prepared to compete in simultaneous contests across the country," he said.

"Speaker Gingrich’s and Senator Santorum’s campaigns have resource challenges. The remaining February states may not be kind to them, and their hopes for a comeback in March may be very difficult and based on an incomplete understanding of the delegate selection rules."

Republican voters still aren't crazy about their potential presidential nominees, according to a new Pew Reserach Center poll.

52 percent of GOP and GOP-leaning registered voters said the field is fair or poor. 46 percent have positive views of the field.

The survey was conducted Jan. 26-29 among 1,006 adults, including 341 Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters.

A month ago, just before the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary, 51 percent gave the field excellent or good ratings. 44 percent rated it fair or poor.

The poll also found that more voters thought President Barack Obama understood the problems of average Americans more than top Republican contenders Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich. 55 percent said the president understood them very or fairly well.

But 39 percent thought Romney understood well, and 36 percent felt that way about Gingrich.

Mitt Romney's lead is 20 in a new Suffolk University/7NEWS (WSVN-Miami) poll of likely Republican voters in Tuesday's Florida primary.

The former Massachusetts governor had 47 percent, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 27 percent. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum got 12 percent, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 9 percent.

“It is almost certain that Mitt Romney will top his 39 percent showing in New Hampshire,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston. “This poll also tells us that Romney could reverse and exceed Newt Gingrich’s percentage and margin in South Carolina – and do it in Gingrich’s backyard.”

 Mitt Romney's now using former "NBC Nightlly News" anchor Tom Brokaw to help make the case against Newt Gingrich.

In an ad released Saturday, Romney, vying for the GOP presidential nomination against the former House Speaker and two othres, brings up the 1997 House of Representatives vote to reprimand Gingrich for ethical lapses.

In the ad, the viewer sees Brokaw delivering the news that night:

“Good evening. Newt Gingrich, who came to power, after all, preaching a higher standard in American politics, a man who brought down another speaker on ethics accusations, tonight he has on his own record the judgment of his peers, Democrat and Republican alike. By an overwhelming vote, they found him guilty of ethics violations; they charged him a very large financial penalty, and they raised – several of them – raised serious questions about his future effectiveness.”

Newt Gingrich shouldn't chide Mitt Romney for having ties to former Charlie Crist staffers, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday.

Crist is disliked by many Republicans after leaving the 2010 GOP Senate primary and running as an independent. He lost to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Some of Crist's political staff now work for Romney.

But Crist is not on the ballot, Bush said.

“That’s not a serious accusation,” Bush told National Review Online, citing Gingrich's criticism.

“Candidates win elections. I’m not a big Charlie Crist fan, as you recall, but these guys shouldn’t have that moniker attached to them, as if Governor Romney is part of some evil plot. That’s ridiculous.”

Mitt Romney grew up in Michigan, and he had a stark message Friday for President Barack Obama as he visited the state: "Mr. President," Romney said, "forgive me for being blunt, but when it comes to economic affairs, you’re out of your depth." 

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor seeking the Republican nomination to run against Obama, is the son of former Michigan  Gov. George Romney. Michigan holds its presidential primary Feb. 28.

Mitt Romney offered his views in an "open letter" to Obama, who was speaking in Ann Arbor Friday morning.

"I recognize, of course, as do all Americans, that you inherited an economic crisis. But you’ve now had three years to turn things around. The record of those three years is clear. Your policies have failed, and not only in Michigan, but across the nation," Romney wrote.

He told Obama his promises "now ring hollow."

After all, Romney said, "If you have brought new ideas to Michigan for creating jobs, why have you waited three years to unveil them? Have you suddenly had a revelation, or is it because 2012 is an election year?

"Whatever the case, what you are offering Michigan now is too little, too late. What Michigan needs, and what the country needs, is not four more years of economic mismanagement and failed leadership, but a fundamental change in direction. I was born and raised in Michigan at a time when our state was the pride of America. With new leadership, Michigan can feel that pride once more."

If Republicans nominate Newt Gingrich, "it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state, and federal offices," former Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole, the GOP's 1996 presidential nominee, said in an "open letter" Thursday.

"Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway," Dole said.

Dole was Senate leader while Gingrich was House Speaker from 1995 to 1999.

Dole recalled Gingrich's $300,000 penalty for ethics violations. "I know whereof I speak as I helped establish a line of credit of $150,000 to help Newt pay off the fine for his ethics violations. In the end, he paid the fine with money from other sources," Dole said.

He also blasted Gingrich's intellect.

"Gingrich had a new idea every minute and most of them were off the wall.  He loved picking a fight with Bill Clinton because he knew this would get the attention of the press," Dole recalled.

"In my run for the presidency in 1996 the Democrats greeted me with a number of negative TV ads and in every one of them Newt was in the ad.  He was very unpopular and I am not only certain that this did not help me, but that it also cost House seats that year.

"Newt would show up at the campaign headquarters with an empty ice-bucket in his hand—that was a symbol of some sort for him—and I never did know what he was doing or why he was doing it.

"In my opinion if we want to avoid an Obama landslide in November, Republicans should nominate Governor Romney as our standard bearer. He has the requisite experience in the public and private sectors. He would be a president we could have confidence in."

Mitt Romney told about 300 people at American Douglas Metals in Orlando that President Barack Obama is "detached from reality."

Romney was giving his reaction to Tuesday's State of the Union address. "I took some notes," he told the crowd as he unfurled a piece of paper.

His message was clear about Obama: "He's detached from the people. He's detached from his own words."

Romney, who didn't mention his Republican rivals, recalled how the president visited Disney World last week and thought he was still there. "He was speaking in Fantasyland last night,' Romney said.

But when in Florida , "he didn’t' spend much time in f land or communities around the state. If you really think things are going well in this country and we're on the right track you ought to vote for him."

Romney then offered a long list of times Obama's words didn't match his action.

"There was that whole riff about regulation," Romney said. "He says he wants to cut regulations even though he's the guy who's dramatically increased them."

Romney said that when he work up Wednesday, his wife Ann was already awake. 'She turned to me," he said, and advised her husband to think about what Obama did not say.

 "What he didn't say was even more disturbing and detached from reality than the things he did say," Mitt Romney said; he wanted more talk about the nation's debt.

And he didn’t say how he would provide leadership, just a plea to Congress to send him the proper legislation.

"Aren't you the leader of the free world? Why don't you draft some legislation?" Romney asked.

The crowd was largely enthusiastic Romney backers—but not everyone was  impressed.

"It sounds like the same stuff out of every politician's mouth, "said Jerry McCormack, manager of an Orlando semi-trailer leasing business.

"Romney's a good guy, but I think Gingrich is a good guy," said Rick Pearce, co-owner of an Orlando printing company. "I have to find out what the truth is. They've got records; I'll look them up."

Nancy Pelosi, former House Speaker and now minority leader, makes it clear what she thinks of Newt Gingrich's prospects for becoming president: Not going to happen, she told CNN's John King.

Here's the transcript:

KING:  Because of your history with Speaker Gingrich, what goes through your mind when you think about the possibility, which is more real today than it was a week or a month ago, that he would be the Republican nominee and that you could come back here next January or next February with a President Gingrich?

PELOSI:  Let me just say this.  That will never happen. 

KING:  Why? 

PELOSI:  He's not going to be president of the United States.  This is -- that's not going to happen.  Let me just make my prediction and stand by it.  It isn't going to happen. 

KING:  Why are you so sure? 

PELOSI:  There's something I know.  The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him, that's the prerogative.  I don't even think that's going to happen.