Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney backed away from a campaign stop claim that he was going to win the Iowa caucuses, saying this morning that he could finish as low as third in today’s voting, but that he’ll be in position to prosecute a long primary process.

“I think it’s hard to predict exactly what’s going to happen, but I think I’m going to be among the top group,” Romney said today on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, when asked about his earlier prediction. “I don’t know if it’s one, two, or three, but all three of us are going to get a good send-off going into New Hampshire and South Carolina and Florida — it’s a long road.”