• New Hampshire primary results
• Romney wins big in New Hampshire, Paul takes second
• ‘Tactical voters’ went for Romney in Granite State
• Economic concerns fuel voters’ decisions in N.H.
NASHUA, N.H. – As the Republican presidential race heads into South Carolina, the field will be divided into two camps: the candidates who are attacking front-runner Mitt Romney’s business record and the candidates who aren’t.
Rushing to make last appeals to voters across New Hampshire on Tuesday, two leading contenders declined to join the fray. Rick Santorum, nearly the co-winner of the Iowa caucuses, refused to criticize Romney’s much-quoted line that “I like being able to fire people who provide me services.”
“If you look at it in context, it’s obvious that he’s talking about insurance companies,” Santorum said in an interview Tuesday. “Mitt Romney can be a little ham-handed in articulating what he wants to accomplish. Attack him all you want on that — that’s a legitimate attack. But to say that he was talking about firing actual people … I just think is a little off base.”
Santorum also held back from criticizing Romney on charges the former Massachusetts governor took big profits out of failing companies. “When we start playing into this ‘Capitalism is bad, and people who make money, even through failure, are bad’ idea, I think we play into the Left,” Santorum said. “I don’t want to do that.”
Ron Paul also declined to join in. “I think it’s a big distraction,” Paul told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday. “Those who are condemning him for it, I think, are arguing like Democrats.”
But the attackers plan to ratchet up the rhetoric in South Carolina. In the days before that state’s Jan. 21 primary, a super PAC working on behalf of Newt Gingrich — who has accused Romney of “looting” companies — will release a 27-minute video ripping Romney’s performance in the private equity business. When some Republicans hit Gingrich back, accusing him of sounding more like Occupy Wall Street than a GOP leader, the former House speaker turned to conservative economic icons.
“I don’t think a Milton Friedman or a Hayek would say to you, ‘Rich guys have to go and rip off companies and leave a wreckage behind,’ ” Gingrich said in an interview Sunday night. “I think that’s plundering. I don’t think that’s capitalism.”
Jon Huntsman, running strong in New Hampshire, got into the act too. “What’s clear is [Romney] likes firing people,” Huntsman said. “I like creating jobs.”
Finally, Rick Perry, behind in the polls and facing what might be a last stand in South Carolina, has little choice but to keep attacking. When the former CEO Romney said he had had moments when he feared being fired, Perry jumped on his rival. “I have no doubt that Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips — whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out,” Perry said Monday.
The attacks on Romney had little time to develop in the rushed final days before the New Hampshire primary. Now, there will be 10 days before South Carolina votes. Look for a real airing of the accusations — and mounting pressure for Romney to defend himself.
Byron York, The Examiner’s chief political correspondent, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears on Tuesday and Friday, and his stories and blogposts appear on washingtonexaminer.com.
