Romney hopes SC is rivals’ last stand

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney braced for a brutal 10-day onslaught in South Carolina as he looks to turn the first-in-the-South primary into the last stand for his Republican rivals.

Coming off twin victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, the former Massachusetts governor was already trying Wednesday to lower expectations that he’ll win in a state defined by notoriously nasty politics, conservative Christians and an active tea party — elements his rivals hope they can use to slow what’s beginning to look like a sprint to the nomination.

“Clearly I face more of an uphill battle in South Carolina than I have here in New Hampshire,” Romney said as he boarded his campaign plane in Bedford, Mass., en route to Columbia. He lost in South Carolina in 2008.

“Last time I came in fourth,” he said, “so, you know, our team recognizes this is going to be a challenge.”

Among those challenges: fighting against attacks on his time at Bain Capital, keeping his campaign on message after verbal missteps about pink slips and liking to fire people, and staying vigilant for any whisper campaign about his Mormon religion.

Rivals Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were scrambling to break through and become a viable conservative alternative to Romney. The early contests scrambled the field, with Santorum nearly winning in Iowa but falling back in New Hampshire. Gingrich led polls in December but faded in the face of withering attacks from Romney’s allies on the airwaves in Iowa.

“We have everybody now gunning with full-time desperation. For most all of them, there is no life after South Carolina,” said Warren Tompkins, Romney’s strategist in the state. “Desperate people do desperate things.”

Most important, Romney aides say, is trying to ensure no single conservative opponent emerges so he can move into Florida from a position of strength. Romney is the only candidate with a full operation there, with calls, mail and TV ads — and his top advisers now see it as the place where Romney can prove he’s the only candidate able to go the distance.

Florida’s sizable Hispanic population means it’s also an opportunity for Romney to look ahead to the general election. He’s now on the air with a Spanish-language ad featuring his son Craig, who speaks Spanish.