Rivals target Romney in a bid to stall nomination

REPUBLICAN favourite Mitt Romney emerged from back-to-back debates in New Hampshire a bit dinged but not seriously dented yesterday, as rivals stepped up attacks to slow his march toward the presidential nomination.

Two days before voters in the small New England state head to the polls, Romney took heat on a number of topics: his record as governor of neighbouring Massachusetts, the attack ads run by an outside group on his behalf and a suggestion he would wither in the face of attacks from Barack Obama.

But there was little to suggest he had suffered any setback in a pair of debates in New Hampshire, where he is heavily favoured to win.

Slowing Romney’s momentum has taken on new urgency in the face of polls showing he is also favoured in the South Carolina primary on January 21.

Romney’s campaign has said jobs and the domestic economy will be the focus of voters. The online exchange InTrade, which takes bets on election outcomes, shows Romney with an 83% chance of winning the nomination.

And yet, the race for second continued to hold the Republican field in suspense, with Santorum, libertarian congressman Ron Paul, former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman all vying for the spot.

Santorum, whose lacklustre campaign caught fire in Iowa and who has pinned hopes more on the next contest in South Carolina, came out punching at Romney, even though he endorsed his 2008 run for the party’s nomination.

“If his record was so great as governor of Massachusetts, why didn’t he run for re-election,” said Santorum.

Gingrich said Romney would “have a very hard time getting elected” and had policy positions that are not sufficiently different from Obama.

Gingrich bristled at Romney’s attempts to paint himself as a reluctant politician.

“Can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney?” he jeered. “You were running for president while you were governor.”