From Mobile, Alabama -
It wasn't exactly the way that the advance team envisioned Mitt Romney's final event in the Deep South before Tuesday's primaries in Alabama and Mississippi, but when you don't pay attention to the weather radar, you get drenched.
The venue was outside the Whistle Stop restaurant, a great looking local joint that probably served up some good breakfast, providing all kinds of talk about Romney's mentions of "grits" last week.
But as the storms moved in, Romney was inside doing an extended interview for Fox News, as the skies grew darker and then finally the heavens opened up, forcing the one hundred or so backers to scatter for cover.
Backers at a Mitt Romney rally in Mobile, Alabama huddle under the overhang of the roof on the Whistle Stop restaurant to avoid heavy rains.
So, instead of standing on a platform with red, white and blue bunting to showcase his big guest of the day - southern comedian Jeff Foxworthy - Romney had to stand on a chair and address local voters off the cuff.
"That's a fine Alabama good mornin," Romney said with a southern lilt in his voice that usually isn't there, akin to the verbal move that earned Hillary Clinton a lot of flak four years ago on the campaign trail.
Yes, I did leave the letter "g" off of the word "morning" for a reason - that's what Romney said - or didn't say in this case.
Mitt Romney is somewhere under the roof overhang there speaking to voters in Mobile, Alabama during a driving rain storm.
"I am so proud to be here with Jeff Foxworthy; I never imagined that I would be up here with Larry the Cable Guy," Romney said of his guest.
Then Romney took one more step that left you shaking your head, as he pointed out someone in the crowd who had helped get Foxworthy to join the Romney bandwagon.
"I'm looking forward to going out with you to hunt sometime, and you can actually show me which end of the rifle to point," Romney said to guffaws.
It was probably good he didn't say that on Friday, or Newt Gingrich might have been talking about guns - instead of grits - all weekend long.
This was Romney's final event in Alabama, as after a weekend off the campaign trail, he left Alabama and Mississippi early before Tuesday's primary vote.
