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.
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Social conservatives in Iowa quietly meet to find alternative to Mitt Romney
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Many Republican religious leaders in the state call Romney a "flip-flopper"
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Romney campaign says candidate "is running a 50-state campaign"
"So I think there's an urgency to say, 'Well who is the person that could best challenge [Romney] then move on after @placeholder?"