GOP rivals target Romney before NH

Associated Press

SPARTANBURG, S.C.

Mitt Romney’s Republican presidential rivals piled on the criticism Sunday, two days before New Hampshire’s primary, with a combative Newt Gingrich leading the aggression by accusing the GOP front-runner of “pious baloney” and charging him with hiding behind inaccurate attack ads aired by allies.

In the increasingly acerbic nomination fight, Romney fired back at Gingrich during a morning debate: “This ain’t beanbag ... we’re going to describe the differences between us.” By evening, he also had taken shots from Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry.

With time running short to curtail Romney here and perhaps elsewhere, his opponents started the day assailing him on the debate stage and ended it by doing the same in appearances across New Hampshire and South Carolina as they worked to appeal to the chunk of Republican voters unenthused with the idea of the former Massachusetts governor as the party’s nominee.

Santorum made a beeline to the conservative upstate of South Carolina to trumpet the endorsement of former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer.

“I’ve still got a little blood on my sleeve from Mitt Romney from that debate,” the former Pennsylvania senator told 400 people crammed into Chief’s sports bar in Greenville, S.C. “We’re not going to shy away where there are differences.” He also alluded to Romney’s position switches on a series of issues, saying: “We’ve got a lot of candidates that just adapt to whatever the environment is ... I don’t, because the truth doesn’t change.”

Looking to revive his flagging candidacy, Perry also swooped into the Southern state.

The Texas governor told roughly 300 people at a packed burger joint in Spartanburg, S.C., that his campaign, after a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses, was like the last stand at the Alamo. He also assailed Romney, casting him as an insider and arguing: “We’ve got to have somebody that is an outsider that is not interested in tinkering around the edges — but that will go into Washington, D.C., and overhaul that place.”

Back in New Hampshire, Gingrich assailed Romney as a “Massachusetts moderate” and promoted a video being released by his allies that attacks Romney’s business career. The Gingrich-leaning Winning Our Future PAC said Sunday that a 28-minute online video — which assails Romney for “reaping massive awards” while head of Bain Capital — may show up on TV in the coming weeks.

Romney, the former Mass-achusetts governor, won the Iowa caucuses last Tuesday by a scant eight votes over Santorum but is so far ahead in New Hampshire polls that his rivals have virtually conceded he will win.

South Carolina comes next, on Jan. 21, the first Southern state to have a primary.