DERRY, N.H. — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty went on the offensive Sunday against both President Obama and presumed Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, linking their health care plans in a strategy likely to be emulated by fellow GOP candidates during a high-profile debate Monday. With Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, the early favorite in the Republican field, Pawlenty was in search of a game-changer, particularly in New Hampshire where he desperately needs to distinguish himself from the pack on what amounts to Romney’s home turf.
To that end, Pawlenty coined a phrase Sunday that could become a staple of the campaign: “Obamneycare.”
Pawlenty took that message on the road at a cramped bar in Derry and a picnic celebrating Flag Day in rural Greenfield, capping a weekend spent in the Granite State.
“The president himself embraces the Massachusetts plan,” Pawlenty said, sporting a yellow, open-collared shirt and jeans. “He said the Massachusetts health care plan was the blueprint for Obamacare.”
Obama’s health care overhaul, which would require Americans to buy health insurance, remains widely detested by Republicans, many of whom view Romney’s similar use of health insurance mandates as equally unpalatable — making health care the biggest obstacle Romney faces in winning the nomination.
As such, the Romney campaign immediately dismissed the comparison to Obama but tried to avoid a political spitball match with Pawlenty — a strategy they might be forced to reconsider as Republicans continue to highlight the controversial legislation.
“Republicans should keep the focus on President Obama’s failure to create jobs and control spending,” Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams said in an email to The Washington Examiner. “People are looking for leadership on the economy and the budget. Mitt Romney wants to be that leader.”
The Pawlenty campaign is attempting to build momentum for a relatively unknown governor, who they argue has proved his conservative credentials in a liberal stronghold — a message not that different from Romney’s.
The aggressive tone is an about-face for Pawlenty, who previously vowed not to throw elbows at fellow Republican candidates. It could foreshadow a feisty GOP debate, the first that includes Romney, Monday in Manchester.
However, the strategy certainly carries some risk of alienating voters turned off by sniping within the party.
“I don’t know how I feel about him going negative so early,” said Hancock resident Bonnie Drummond. “I guess it’s a legitimate message. It just doesn’t feel right. He’s still probably my favorite, though.”
And as governor of a liberal state, Pawlenty has a few political liabilities of his own, including his previous support of a cap-and-trade policy to control greenhouse gases that is widely opposed among Republicans.
“Like all other candidates, I have a few clunkers in my closet,” he explained in disavowing his previous endorsement of the policy.
But Obama, not Romney, was Pawlenty’s top target at campaign stops Sunday.
Pawlenty, like other Republican candidates, is challenging Obama’s record on jobs and the economy. Last week, Pawlenty called for slashing individual and corporate tax rates in contrast to Obama, who would raise income tax rates for wealthier Americans.
“He doesn’t have an economic plan,” Pawlenty said of Obama, citing a soaring national debt and $4-a-gallon gasoline. “All he has is a campaign plan. We’ve tried it his way. It didn’t work.”
