GOP activists fear primary takes a toll on Romney

GOP activists fear primary takes a toll on Romney

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican activists foresee a long, lumbering presidential campaign that almost certainly will nominate Mitt Romney but may leave him weakened in a fall battle against President Barack Obama. Interviews Wednesday with GOP officials and strategists in several states found no panic or calls for Romney to crank up his criticisms of Rick Santorum to secure the nomination. But they expressed varying degrees of worry that Santorum’s and Newt Gingrich’s attacks on Romney are inflicting wounds that might not fully heal by Nov. 6.