Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Gingrich goes on the attack in New Hampshire; Bachmann pulls out; Perry focuses on S.C.; Santorum goes quiet.
WASHINGTON — Having eked out a win by eight votes over Rick Santorum in Iowa, Mitt Romney returned to New Hampshire on Wednesday facing high expectations in Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary and a full-page ad from Newt Gingrich in the state’s biggest newspaper attacking him as a “timid Massachusetts moderate.”
Other major developments in the GOP nominating contest Wednesday:
• U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who finished sixth in Iowa, dropped out of the race.
• Romney picked up the endorsement of U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the party’s presidential nominee in 2008.
• Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who finished fifth in Iowa, said he was skipping New Hampshire’s primary next week and would focus on South Carolina’s Jan. 21 primary.
The ad by former House Speaker Gingrich, who finished a distant fourth in Iowa, attacked Romney while describing Gingrich as a “bold Reagan conservative.”
Romney faces high expectations in the Granite State, where he doesn’t have the luxury of lowered expectations, as he did in Iowa until the final days. He was governor in neighboring Massachusetts, and polls show him with a sizable lead on the field.
McCain, who won the New Hampshire primary in 2008, could help Romney, who is certain to face withering attacks as he tries to maintain his momentum.
“I am here for one reason,” McCain said, taking the stage with Romney, “that we make Mitt Romney the next president.”
“He’s well set up for a strong showing,” said Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, noting that McCain won New Hampshire with 37 percent of the vote in 2008 and 48 percent of the vote in 2000.
Most recent polls have shown Romney with support from more than 40 percent of likely New Hampshire primary voters. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas — who came in a strong third in Iowa — has consistently polled a distant second in New Hampshire.
As long as Romney’s margin over his closest competitor is in double digits, he can claim a big win. With anything less, opponents could see weakness and resolve to stay in.
At this point, it’s difficult to see who would rise up to challenge Romney in New Hampshire.
“The issue confronting Paul is the same one he ran into in 2008 — that there’s a ceiling on his support,” said Chris Galdieri, a politics professor at St. Anselm College in Manchester. “Twenty-one percent (the level of support Paul received in Iowa) is probably his ceiling, or close to it.”
Santorum, who surprised most pundits by going from also-ran in many polls to front-runner in Iowa in the final days before the caucuses, expects a sizable bounce in New Hampshire and elsewhere. The question Wednesday was not whether he would gain support — as a social conservative, he could pick up many of Bachmann’s backers — but how much that will be worth in the more socially moderate, libertarian-leaning Northeast and whether he has the resources and organization to capitalize on it.
To the surprise and consternation of some backers, Santorum largely abandoned the campaign trail Wednesday, missing an opportunity to appear on TV and capitalize on his come-from-nowhere showing. The first appearance of the former Pennsylvania senator came well after national news programs had concluded, Wednesday night at a community forum in Brentwood, N.H.
There Santorum faced questions about his support for home-state spending projects known as earmarks and for a recent comment about black people that has been criticized as being racially insensitive.
Santorum has said he now opposes earmarks, but defended them, saying “When you go to Congress you fight to make sure that when taxes go from your state to Washington, D.C., you fight to make sure you get your fair share back.”
Santorum also tried to explain remarks he made in Iowa about Medicaid, a program for poor Americans. He was quoted as saying: “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.”
In the CNN interview, Santorum said he “mumbled it and changed my thought” in mid-statement. “I’m pretty confident I didn’t say ‘black,’ ” he said.
While Santorum defended his overall record in working on economic issues for black communities, civic and civil rights leaders criticized his remark.
Santorum also sought to explain previous statements that likened same-sex relationships to bestiality.
Meanwhile Perry — once considered a potential threat to Romney’s front-runner status — signaled Wednesday that he will fight on in South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary. Perry tweeted: “And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State … Here we come South Carolina!!!”
Gingrich — who was a front-runner in the race until recently — showed no sign of shrinking. After calling Romney a liar and criticizing the attacks that a pro-Romney political action committee made against him in Iowa, Gingrich took out a full-page ad in the Manchester Union Leader.
“He can’t even break out in his own party,” Gingrich said. “Gov. Romney, in the end, has a very limited appeal in a conservative party.”
UP NEXT
Tuesday: New Hampshire Primary
Delegates: 12
2008 winners: John McCain, Hillary Clinton