Mitt Romney's New Map? Downplay Iowa and South Carolina for New Hampshire and Florida?

Is former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, one of the front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, prepared to shake up the nomination process?

Thats one of the questions raised by a piece by the gang over at First Read which suggests that Romneys team could be considering skipping out of Iowa and South Carolina, two of the crucial and early contests, to focus on New Hampshire and Florida:

Can Romney downplay both IA and SC? Speaking of South Carolina, Politicos Ben Smith wrote over the weekend that Team Romney might keep the Palmetto State at arms length in 2012, due to concerns about Romneys Mormon faith. People will have to reluctantly admit that the Mormon issue was a bigger problem last time around than people would want to acknowledge, said Warren Tompkins, Romneys key consultant here in 2008 who is not working for him this cycle. A large part of [Gov. Mike] Huckabees success came at the expense of Gov. Romney being Mormon. Can the front-runner Romney effectively downplay both Iowa and South Carolina? The consequence of Romney not winning both contests and eyeing New Hampshire and Florida instead probably guarantees that if he wins the GOP nomination, it will be after a LONG and potentially BLOODY primary season. And that's if Romney does well in New Hampshire. This strategy puts a premium on New Hampshire for Romney, a state that LOVES to reject front-runners and the Conventional Wisdom. Is Romney really going to end up skipping or, better, SKIMPING, on Iowa and South Carolina? Or is this all just a mini-2011 ploy? Who bets Romney plays in both states rather competitively once all is said and done?