Romney, Giuliani spar over spending

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Republicans Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani had a sharp exchange yesterday over their tax and spending records, reflecting a tightening race in New Hampshire and Romney's desire to make the GOP campaign a two-man fight.

The former Massachusetts governor criticized Giuliani for fighting as New York's mayor to eliminate a presidential line-item veto - a provision that lets a president reject specific items in a spending bill - as well as to maintain a commuter tax in New York. In both cases, Giuliani said he was looking out for the city.

In 1999, the Supreme Court found the line-item veto unconstitutional. The commuter tax was repealed in 1999.

Romney said those actions by Giuliani illustrated the two candidates' differing views on tax policy and government spending, key issues in New Hampshire, which has a Yankee pride in bare-bones government and no income tax.

One of Romney's predecessors as governor, Republican Paul Cellucci, said in a conference call arranged by the Giuliani campaign that the criticism "appears to be some desperation as the polls close." He also said it amounted to "pretty weak arguments from a governor who in four years really had no tax cuts for the people of Massachusetts."

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INDEPENDENCE, Iowa - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for "true patriotism" since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Iraq war.

"I probably haven't worn a flag pin in a very long time," he said during a campaign appearance. "After a while I noticed people wearing a lapel pin and not acting very patriotic."

"My attitude is that I'm less concerned about what you're wearing on your lapel than what's in your heart."

He called yesterday for new restrictions on deployment of National Guard and Reserve soldiers along with an expansion of their benefits.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Congressional Democrats from Florida sued their own party yesterday, hoping to restore the national convention delegates stripped from the state because it scheduled an early presidential primary.

The party violated the Constitution and federal voting laws by taking away Florida Democrats' ability to have a say in choosing the presidential nominee, says the lawsuit filed by Senator Bill Nelson and Representative Alcee Hastings against the Democratic National Committee party and its chairman, Howard Dean.

The national party's rules committee voted to take away Florida's 210 delegates after the state party chose to go along with a Jan. 29 primary set by Florida's Republican-led Legislature.

Democratic Party rules say states cannot hold their nominating contests before Feb. 5, except for Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

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WASHINGTON - Democrat Bill Richardson said yesterday that he's not giving up his presidential bid to run for a Senate seat that has opened in his home state of New Mexico.

"I am not running for the Senate. I'm running for president," Richardson said.

The governor and his campaign advisers did not rule out a Senate race if he does not win the Democratic presidential nomination. The filing deadline for the Senate seat is Feb. 12, after nominating contests in more than half the states.

Republican Senator Pete Domenici announced yesterday that he will retire at the end of his term in January 2009. Richardson won a second term as governor last year with 69 percent of the vote, and would be forced out by term limits in 2010.

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