The good news for Mitt Romney is that many pundits declared him the winner of the first Republican presidential debate. The bad news is that the former Massachusetts governor might have a bull’s-eye on his back for the second debate, which will be held here Tuesday night at the University of South Carolina.
“The better we do, the greater the incentive there is for other campaigns to try and attack us,” Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said. “I would not be surprised to see others spend less time talking about their campaign and more time about ours.”
A spokesman for Sen. John McCain suggested that the Arizona maverick is more interested in making the case for himself than going after Romney. But when asked about the media buzz that Romney won the first debate, the McCain spokesman took a veiled swipe at Romney’s conservative credentials.
“When people looked at the candidates and saw John McCain, they saw someone who represented the core beliefs of our party,” McCain spokesman Danny Diaz said.
McCain supporters concede that he got off to a slow start in the first debate, which was held May 3 in California, before hitting his stride halfway through the 90-minute exchange.
Many political analysts said McCain performed better than GOP front-runner Rudy Giuliani, whose response to an abortion question was widely criticized.
A Giuliani spokeswoman said the former New York mayor has no intention of targeting his Republican rivals in tonight’s debate, which is being moderated by Brit Hume of Fox News Channel.
“Rudy considers both Governor Romney and Senator McCain friends – he was happy to campaign for both of them,” Giuliani spokeswoman Katie Levinson said. “And he’s made clear that this campaign is not going to be about personal attacks; it’s going to be about his record and about his vision for the future.”
In addition to Romney, McCain and Giuliani, who are considered top-tier candidates for the GOP nomination, seven lesser-known Republicans will participate in tonight’s debate.
These include former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose performance in the first debate received generally high marks.
Also on stage will be former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who apologized after saying in the first debate that an employer should be allowed to fire workers for being gay.
