CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Campaigns are about appearances as much as reality -- project strength and people will rally behind you.
Mitt Romney is no different.
Since surging in the polls two weeks ago after the first presidential debate, Romney has attempted to create an air of inevitability around his campaign.
At rallies in swing states around the country he has called his campaign "super-charged," expressed his agenda for "when I'm president," and compared his rise in the polls to a movement sweeping the nation. In the same breath, he has painted his opponent's campaign as flailing, relying on desperate measures to stem the tide.
"The Obama campaign is slipping because it can't find an agenda to help the American families," Romney told an audience during an airport rally here.
"But our campaign is growing into a movement across this country that says we're gonna get America back, we're gonna get America strong, we're gonna provide for our families," he continued.
That effort culminated Wednesday night in Cedar Rapids, where Romney boldly predicted he would become the next President of the United States.
"I'm optimistic. I'm optimistic," Romney said before delivering his coup de grace. "Not just about winning -- we are going to win, by the way."
It's a fine line that all candidates walk -- make people believe you're going to win, and more people will join.
But appear overconfident or convince voters of your inevitability, and risk complacency among your supporters.
Romney need go no further than ask his opponent -- in 2008, then Sen. Obama was riding high after winning the Iowa Caucus only to lose resoundingly to his opponent, Hillary Clinton, during the New Hampshire primary.
It's a lesson President Obama has taken to heart, making sure to remind his supporters to vote every chance he gets.
