Romney rivals seek theme in S. Carolina

Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C.

With a week left to halt Mitt Romney from sweeping to a third-straight victory, his GOP rivals are struggling in South Carolina for a theme, momentum and most crucially, one strong challenger to consolidate conservatives’ misgivings about the front-runner.

The dynamics that lifted Romney to wins in Iowa and New Hampshire seem to be working for him here, even though South Carolina is often described as too evangelical and culturally Southern for his background.

In some ways, the former Massachusetts governor is lucky, benefiting from a fractured opposition that has divided the anti- Romney vote for months. In other ways he is benefiting from shrewd and well- organized supporters. He uses TV ads to shore up his weaknesses and to batter the rivals he sees as most threatening.

In Iowa, the target was former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who plummeted under the barrage. In South Carolina, it’s former Sen. Rick Santorum, a longtime champion of home- schooling, anti-abortion efforts and other social- conservative causes.

Santorum nearly won the Iowa caucus, and some consider him the best bet for unifying the anti-Romney vote.

But a private group that supports Romney is pounding Santorum in South Carolina with TV ads and mailings. So is Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning candidate who helped attack Gingrich in Iowa.

Paul’s ads vilify Santorum for pushing pork-barrel projects as a Pennsylvania senator, and they portray him as an insincere conservative.