Concord, N.H. -- With just hours until voters cast the first primary ballots of the 2012 election, a hungry pack of GOP presidential candidates ripped into Mitt Romney on Sunday during a debate in a last-ditch effort to raise questions about his conservative credentials and cut into his formidable lead in New Hampshire polls.
Romney, who has managed to sidestep face-to-face attacks from his fellow Republicans leading up to Tuesday's primary election, found himself the object of a full pile-on from the opening moments of Sunday's combative "Meet the Press" debate here, sponsored by Palo Alto-based Facebook, NBC and the New Hampshire Union Leader. The encounter took place just 12 hours after another debate Saturday night in nearby Manchester.
While there were no game changers - and no major gaffes - the debate marked a departure after months of the GOP presidential nomination battle, offering sustained attacks against the wealthy former Massachusetts governor who is increasingly seen as the man to beat.
The latest Suffolk University Poll shows Romney losing ground in the last week but still drawing 35 percent support in New Hampshire, followed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul with 20 percent. There's a scramble for third among former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (11 percent), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (9 percent) and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (8 percent). Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, who has not been included in any GOP debates, trail far behind at 1 percent.
Santorum strikes first
Santorum - who nearly tied Romney in the Iowa caucuses last week - launched the first salvos Sunday, dismissing Romney as a quitter who bailed out of executive office after one term as Massachusetts governor, one who "wouldn't stand up for conservative issues" while he "ran from Ronald Reagan ... to the left of Ted Kennedy."
Huntsman delivered strong back-to-back debate performances as he highlighted his executive and foreign policy experience, repeatedly assailed the "trust deficit" in politics and attacked Romney as a career politician who represents "the blame game" of a partisan culture.
But it was the negative onslaught from Gingrich that bookmarked the debate - a strategy fueled by anger at the barrage of TV attacks leveled at him by pro-Romney super PACs that have eviscerated his once-robust poll numbers.
Gingrich challenged Romney's suggestion that he has never sought a career in politics and didn't run for re-election in Massachusetts because he wanted to return to private life.
"Could we drop a little bit of the pious baloney?" Gingrich said caustically. "You had a very bad re-election rating; you dropped out of office. ... You were running for president while you were governor; you were out of state consistently.
"Just level with the American people. You've been running (for political office) since the 1990s," he said.
Gingrich later launched the most hostile exchange of the debate when he assailed Romney on the attack ads, demanding an apology that never came.
Texans Paul and Perry also leveled barbs at Romney, but as part of their efforts to raise questions about the entire field of challengers, along with Democratic President Obama.
Perry in good form
Perry, whose campaign is on the ropes largely because of past poor debate performances, this time appeared energetic and in good humor, even offering a self-depreciating joke about his famous "oops" moment in an earlier debate when he couldn't recall the name of a Cabinet department he wanted to eliminate.
Trumpeting his credentials as a political "outsider," Perry repeatedly suggested his fellow candidates were part of a big-spending, moderate GOP that has contributed to the nation's soaring deficit. Asked if he had kind words for Obama, Perry dismissed him as a "socialist."
Paul, as he has in past debates, took down Santorum for supporting big spending and insisted that he alone was the candidate who would radically reduce the government and staunchly protect the Constitution.
Santorum struck back.
"He's never passed anything of ... any importance," Santorum said of Paul's legislative record. "He's been out there on the margins and has really been unsuccessful ... in working together with anybody to do anything."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/08/MN9A1MMG17.DTL#ixzz1iwYUgO17
No comments:
Post a Comment