Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) — Representatives for leading social conservative groups in Iowa held a secret meeting Monday as part of an effort with one main goal: find and support a Republican presidential candidate who can stop Mitt Romney in Iowa.
The idea: avoid splintering the conservative vote in the state by rallying around one GOP rival who could win Iowa’s Jan. 3 caucus and then challenge Romney in New Hampshire and the other early voting states.
Many social conservatives and other religious leaders in the state have openly labeled the former Massachusetts governor as a “flip-flopper,” a criticism the campaign frequently beats back, while others have seen Romney’s Mormon faith as an issue. And many of them have openly hoped for someone to emerge as a viable alternative to the former Massachusetts governor.
CNN reached out to the Romney campaign for reaction to the secret meeting and the overall anti-Romney effort.
“Gov. Romney is running a 50-state campaign. He’s going to be competitive in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and all the other early states,” said Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams. “He’s reaching out to each and every voter.”
One attendee at the meeting earlier this week told CNN they wanted “to see if they could come to a consensus of who they might endorse.”
But the source was skeptical about the impact of Iowa social conservatives rallying behind one candidate.

“If you want to stop Romney you’re probably going to have to have some organization [and] some money,” the source said. “Somebody who’s at 5% or 6% in the polls, and they endorse, I don’t think that does any good.”
Multiple sources have described to CNN details of the meeting and the general effort.
The meeting, the group’s first, took place in a private office building in Des Moines on Monday. In attendance were representatives from the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, The Family Leader, the group Iowa Right to Life, and a representative for the Iowa chapter of Concerned Women for America. Some pastors from prominent Iowa churches also attended the meeting.
The effort seems limited to Iowa, with no apparent outreach to similar groups in other states.  (read more)