RICHMOND -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Tuesday that Virginia will be a competitive battleground in the 2008 election, but predicted that voters will not lurch to the political left to elect a new president.

Romney was in Richmond to pick up the endorsement of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and appeal for support from state GOP activists. The former Massachusetts governor said public discontent with the Iraq war fueled Democratic gains in the 2006 congressional elections, but predicted that other issues will affect the outcome of next year's presidential race.

"I don't believe for a minute that America is going to take a sharp left turn on policies, on taxes and on the role of government," Romney said after he and Bolling emerged from a private meeting with about 200 Republican activists at a downtown Richmond hotel.

The former Massachusetts governor is among the front-runners for the 2008 Republican nomination and Bolling's support could give Romney some organizational heft in Virginia for the Feb. 12 primary. Bolling will serve as Romney's Virginia campaign chairman.

Bolling said he studied all of the Republican presidential hopefuls and concluded that Romney has "the right stand on the important issues facing the country."

"When people hear his message, he has the ability to inspire people like Ronald Reagan did," Bolling said.

Bolling touted Romney as a candidate who can reach beyond the traditional Republican base and appeal to independents and "clear-thinking Democrats."

"This was a Republican governor who worked with overwhelming Democrat majorities in both houses of the legislature to turn around a mess in Massachusetts," Bolling said.

No Democrat has carried Virginia in a presidential election since 1964. But, after losing a gubernatorial election in 2005 and a U.S. Senate seat last year, Republicans must acknowledge that the state's political landscape is shifting, Bolling said.

"We're kidding ourselves if we don't admit that this is a challenging time for our party in Virginia," Bolling said. "There are changing demographics in our state that make Virginia very much in play."

Bolling is the second Republican statewide-elected official to formally back a candidate in the crowded presidential field. U.S. Sen. John Warner has endorsed fellow Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Romney has been critical of how the U.S. has executed the war in Iraq. But he said he will withhold further judgment about the war until September, when the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Army Gen. David Petraeus, is scheduled to deliver a much-anticipated progress report to Congress.

Romney also insisted that his Mormon faith will not be an issue as he campaigns in Virginia. Romney noted that he was elected governor in a state with a large Catholic population.

"People don't care where you go to church," he said. "They care what you believe, what you're going to do for the future of their state or their country. They care about your vision for the future. They care about your character and your track record."

Romney was not the only presidential hopeful visiting Virginia on Tuesday. Democrat John Edwards appeared at a McLean fundraising luncheon for Democratic candidates for the House of Delegates.