Mitt Romney finally found an army of real die-hard fans -- something we've searched for for months -- not in his home state, but in Idaho. When Romney gave a speech to the Detroit Economic Club last week, the 1,200-member crowd was dwarfed by the 65,000-seat stadium. Even some of the folding chairs sat empty inside the roped-in audience zone. It was embarrassing. But Thursday in Idaho Falls (a twelfth the size of Detroit), Romney packed a gym with 1,200 people -- and then had a spillover crowd of 1,000 more, The Washington Post's Philip Rucker reports. 

For once, Romney's slightly awkward jokes were embraced by his audience:

“You seem to be more than slightly inclined to support my candidacy,” Romney said. “Is that right?”

The crowd’s cheers gave him his answer.

Romney gave two speeches because the crowd filled two gyms. There were "deafening cheers," The Wall Street Journal's Sara Murray reports. Yahoo's Holly Bailey tweeted it was once of the biggest crowds she'd ever seen for Romney. There was a traffic jam on the way in. Why does Idaho love Romney so much? Turns out there are a lot of Mormons there, and they tend to stick together -- 90 percent of the Mormons who voted in Arizona's presidential primary Tuesday voted for Romney. 

Winning the ladies' votes:

(Photo via NBC News' Garrett Haake.)

(Photo via The New York Times' Ashley Parker.)

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Exciting the youths:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ereeve at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Elspeth Reeve