Romney and foes tangle over taxes
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Mitt Romney sought to seize back the initiative in his presidential campaign yesterday, using a final Republican debate and a meeting with voters here to hammer at rivals John McCain and Mike Huckabee on taxes and other issues. But with just two days before the crucial New Hampshire primary, McCain struck back, charging that Romney has "changed his position on almost every major issue," while Huckabee said Romney was making misleading attacks.
After a day of campaigning, the Republican candidates held their second debate in two nights and tussled repeatedly over taxes, always a central issue in the first-primary state. Romney charged that McCain opposed President Bush's tax cuts and "continues to believe that was the right vote to take." McCain responded that he wanted to couple tax cuts with spending cuts in order to stop what he called unnecessary spending.
Romney then went after Huckabee on taxing and spending, repeatedly asking the former Arkansas governor to admit that he raised taxes in his state by a net $500 million over 10 years. When Huckabee declined to respond directly, Romney inter jected, "You know, Mike, you make facts faster than you talk." Huckabee replied that his record should be put in perspective. He said that he cut taxes and that voters approved a tax to pay for roads and that a court order on school funding required higher taxes.
"It is not about the politics of saying 'I never raised a tax.' It is about 'I made government work,' " said Huckabee, who won Iowa's Republican caucuses Thursday.
The two other candidates also tangled on the issue, with Rudy Giuliani defending his tax record as former mayor of New York and former senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee defending his plan to save Social Security, which would cut now-planned benefits for future retirees.
Romney was put on the defensive about his prior statement that he doesn't need to be a foreign policy expert to be president. Romney responded that his leadership experience is more important. McCain contended that his work on foreign policy and national security would make him better qualified to lead.
Romney, meanwhile, tried to recover from a gaffe in Saturday's debate on ABC. Romney said during the debate that his ads don't accuse McCain of favoring amnesty for illegal immigrants. However, at least two of Romney's ads do accuse McCain of favoring amnesty. Romney said that "I was simply incorrect," acknowledging that he has made the charge in the ads. He said he had not seen one of the ads though his voice is heard in the ad saying he approved the message.
McCain has denied he favors amnesty for illegal immigrants, saying his proposal would send criminals back to their home countries and that other illegal immigrants would have to pay a fine and get in line behind legal immigrants before seeking citizenship.
Earlier yesterday, Romney appeared in Nashua in front of a sign that summed up his latest campaign theme, "Washington Is Broken." He extolled his record as governor of Massachusetts, boasting that he had improved everything from healthcare to education.
Romney's "Ask Mitt Anything" session at a Nashua high school attracted one of the largest crowds of his campaign, with more than 400 people squeezing into the cafeteria, but many of the questioners said they came from out of state.
McCain, 71, has been attacked in recent days by Romney, who said Washington's problems cannot be solved by the same "old faces" in Washington.
But McCain said yesterday that both experience and a hunger for change are important qualities for a candidate, and he predicted that he would win tomorrow.
The McCain campaign is battling with Democrat Barack Obama for support from independents, who can vote in either primary in New Hampshire. If large numbers of New Hampshire independents throw their support behind Obama, who is also enjoying a surge in the wake of his decisive win in the Iowa caucuses on Thursday, McCain could be hurt. In 2000, he won the state's primary overwhelmingly among independents and more narrowly among registered Republicans.
When asked at a press conference in Salem about competing with Obama for support among independents, McCain urged voters to consider the difference: "He's a liberal Democrat and I'm a conservative Republican."
Huckabee, meanwhile, suggested he will temporarily be allied with McCain in New Hampshire against Romney.
"We have both been brutally assaulted by Governor Romney with amazingly misleading ads that attacked and distorted and misrepresented our record," Huckabee said on Fox News Sunday, referring to Romney's ads about Huckabee's record on taxes and pardons. "Romney attacking me in Iowa, attacking [McCain] in New Hampshire; I do think it's kind of created a brotherhood here. I would not deny that, but it's because we both have been the recipients of millions of dollars, millions of dollars worth of negative ads."
Giuliani had another light day of campaigning, with two stops in advance of a second night of debating his GOP rivals. At a morning house party in Hollis, an affluent bedroom community outside Nashua, Giuliani continued to emphasize national security issues - building up the military, staying on offense against terrorists, and expanding both the size and role of NATO as a peacekeeper.
Giuliani also defended his unconventional campaign strategy of focusing less attention on early states and more on later-voting states where his moderate social views could make him more competitive.
"My candidacy is an unconventional candidacy," he said. "I mean, from the day I started, I was the candidate that couldn't get nominated. The Republican Party wouldn't nominate me. I don't know how often I read those stories a year ago. The fact that we are where we are has already defied all conventional wisdom."
In response to a Romney remark that Giuliani no longer seems a "powerhouse," Giuliani retorted: "Look, Mitt has his own struggle. In these elections, they go up and down. . . . Hey, our strategy may not work. We'll see. His strategy may not work. We'll see. But that's what this is all about. We believe our strategy will work."
Thompson, who has run only a marginal campaign in New Hampshire, planned to leave the state after last night's GOP debate and head to South Carolina to launch a 11-day bus tour through the Palmetto State that will take him through the Republican primary there on Jan. 19.
A tracking poll released yesterday by WMUR and CNN found that McCain was ahead of Romney by 32 percent to 26 percent, followed by Huckabee at 14 percent, Giuliani at 11 percent, Representative Ron Paul of Texas at 10 percent, and Thompson and Representative Duncan Hunter of California each at 1 percent.
Despite those poll results, Fox News refused to admit Paul to the debate but did invite Thompson. The decision to exclude Paul and Hunter prompted New Hampshire's Republican Party to drop its association with the debate.
Bryan Bender, Michael Levenson, Brian Mooney and Charlie Savage of the Globe staff contributed. Kranish can be reached at kranish@globe.com. 