CINCINNATI — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney sought to erase his image as an out-of-touch elitist as he rallied to overtake rival Rick Santorum in Ohio just days ahead of the most consequential election night of the campaign so far, Super Tuesday.

The normally staid former Massachusetts governor and multimillionaire business executive was exuding far greater emotion in campaign stops over the weekend, talking about returning warriors from Iraq and Afghanistan, calling for a moment of silence for victims of tornadoes in the Midwest and reviving a 2008 campaign story about how he shut down his venture capital firm one day so he and his employees could help search for a colleague’s missing daughter.

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