Romney, McCain spar over records

Rudy Giuliani, Mike
Huckabee and Fred
Thompson also participated.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Mitt Romney and John McCain sparred Sunday over their tax and spending records and who was a better agent for change, in the second Republican debate in as many days as the clock wound down to the New Hampshire primary.

“You have a choice,” Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, said after ticking off his accomplishments in office. “You can select somebody who wants to fight for those things, or you can select somebody who’s actually done those things.”

McCain listed the pork-barrel spending he has exposed, as well as an Air Force tanker contract he squashed, before responding: “I think it was a reason why I wasn’t elected Miss Congeniality in the Senate. I have a record of saving billions of dollars.”

Sitting elbow-to-elbow in a studio on the campus of St. Anselm College, the two rivals also continued a debate they have been conducting at long distance about who is better equipped to bring change to Washington.

Citing his record as a venture capitalist, Olympics CEO and governor, Romney said, “I’ve been in the economy. I’ve been in the real world.”

McCain shot back moments later: “I led the largest squadron in the U.S. Navy, not for profit but for patriotism.”

Fred Thompson also jumped into the exchange, mocking Romney for saying the next president did not have to be a foreign policy expert so long as he was a good manager.

“My friend Mitt thinks expertise is important in all areas except national security,” Thompson said with a sly smile.

He and Rudy Giuliani scoffed at the notion that change should dominate the political debate — as Thompson noted, just because Iowans said so in their caucuses last week.

Giuliani added, “Change is a slogan, and the examination has to be is it change for good or change for bad?”

There were several prickly exchanges between Romney and rival Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who bested him last week in the Iowa caucuses.

At one point, Romney asked Huckabee a question as the former governor was responding to one posed by moderator Chris Wallace. Huckabee said he preferred to speak through the moderator.

Romney also prodded Huckabee about whether spending had increased during his decade as governor of Arkansas.

“You make up facts faster than you can talk sometimes,” Romney said as Huckabee avoided giving a direct answer.

Huckabee said: “I had a court order that said we had to improve education.”

Ron Paul was excluded from the debate by the sponsor, the Fox News Channel. The New Hampshire Republican Party dropped its cosponsorship of the forum to protest the exclusion.

As the clocked ticked to less than 48 hours before voting began, McCain declared “I will win” Tuesday’s primary, while Romney scrambled to keep a second big race from slipping away.