LAS VEGAS — Mitt Romney, with his enduring lead over the Republican presidential field, has largely avoided attacks on his competitors. But that ended on the Vegas strip this week when Romney’s standing was forcefully challenged by Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
When Perry charged that Romney had hired illegal immigrants to work at his house, Romney batted down the charge and tore into Perry’s record as governor and his support for giving illegal immigrants college tuition breaks.
Despite the fierce rejoinder, Romney aides say his performance does not mean voters are going to be seeing a more aggressive side of the former Massachusetts governor.
“I do think it’s significant that Mitt Romney doesn’t go into these debates with a strategy to attack other candidates,” Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told The Washington Examiner.
Romney, Fehrnstrom said, “is never the person to throw the first punch, but when punches get thrown at him he’s going to respond.”
Nevada Republicans seemed to like Romney’s approach.
“I think Gov. Romney handled himself in a tremendously dignified way,” said entertainer Wayne Newton, one of Nevada’s most famous Republicans, who watched the debate from a seat close to the stage. “It was presidential.”
Romney is the only candidate who has remained atop the polls since the race for the nomination began months ago. Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota have both risen in voter surveys, only to plummet after more intense scrutiny.
Business executive Herman Cain is now tied with Romney in first place and is beating him in some states thanks in part to Cain’s blunt message on taxes and his charismatic delivery. But Cain’s weak campaign organization and total lack of government experience make him vulnerable. For instance, he stumbled badly on a foreign policy question Tuesday and had to walk back an earlier statement that he would exchange Guantanamo Bay prisoners for American prisoners held by terrorists.
Romney, on the other hand, has struggled to inspire ambivalent voters, but he has made few, if any, major blunders.
Political experts say Romney’s status as the most durable front-runner calls for a nonaggressive approach.
“Under these circumstances, it makes sense to defend yourself when attacked, and launch a broadside in return to prove you can’t be bullied, but to refrain from inflaming passions too much on your own,” said University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato. “If you are the rational choice, then you want the party’s head to prevail over its heart. Plus, you have to be able to reunite a party that really isn’t in love with you, and is never going to be.”
Perry, whose poll numbers sank into the single digits after a meteoric rise in August, is looking to regain momentum after a string of lackluster debate performances. He took several unprovoked shots at Romney, including the accusation that Romney hired illegal immigrants to do yard work.
Romney at one point laughed dismissively at Perry, then engaged him in a shouting match. Still, it was Romney who appeared to come out ahead in the exchange.
“I think [Perry] lost a lot of points [in the debate] by doing that,” Nevada Republican Party Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian told CNN. “I think he knew that he was going to have to make a big move and, unfortunately, from the people that I’ve spoken to, once again, they didn’t find that positive.”
