The Hill News

Mitt Romney took criticism from Iowa's Republican governor and one of the most influential conservative leaders in the state this week.

Both leaders warned that Romney imperiled his campaign by not spending enough time with Iowan voters.

Social conservatives and Evangelicals are an influential voting bloc in Iowa. In an October poll by the Des Moines Register of likely Iowa Republican caucus voters, 45 percent identified themselves as “very conservative” in their positions on social issues such as those prioritized by Vander Plaats’ group.

Bob Vander Plaats, a leader of an influential social conservatives group, blasted Romney on Tuesday for not attending any events hosted by his Iowa-based group, calling it a “diss” to social conservatives.

"Mitt Romney has dissed this base in Iowa and this diss will not stay in Iowa," he told Fox News. "This might prove that he is not smart enough to be president."

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