Republican rivals turn their guns on Obama

REPUBLICAN presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum looked past each other to run down President Barack Obama’s economic policies, as they jockeyed for support in New Hampshire and reached out to voters in conservative bellwether South Carolina.

Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman were happy to level their criticism at Romney, casting the front-runner as too timid to take on Obama and bring about needed change.

Romney is reaching for a decisive victory in New Hampshire to solidify his standing. At a stop in Salem before heading to South Carolina, Romney labelled Obama a “crony capitalist”, invoking a theme Michele Bachmann had used before dropping out of the race.