WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Mitt Romney and John McCain pounded each other yesterday with some of the fiercest attacks of the Republican presidential campaign as they pushed toward the end of a wire-thin race in Florida that could anoint one of them the front-runner for the nomination.
With hours to go before today's primary, Romney went on the offensive in a bid to link McCain to Democratic policies and leaders reviled by Republican voters.
McCain responded by accusing Romney of being a serial flip-flopper who had supported many of the same policies as governor of Massachusetts, only to renounce them when he launched a bid for the presidency.
The furious sparring - in a dizzying final barrage of press conferences, automated phone calls, Internet ads, and rallies - reflected how both men are seeking a win that could give them an edge heading into the crush of 21 states that hold GOP contests next Tuesday.
Romney struck first, rising before dawn to summon reporters to a Texaco station in West Palm Beach, where he assailed McCain for pushing three major bills also supported by prominent Senate Democrats.
Romney said the 2002 campaign finance law backed by McCain and Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin "hit the First Amendment" by restricting spending on political advertising. He said last year's failed immigration bill championed by McCain and Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts was an "amnesty bill" because it would have opened a pathway for illegal immigrants to become citizens. And he said a 2003 energy cap-and-trade bill backed by McCain and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut would have increased gasoline costs for the average Florida family of four by $1,000 a year.
"If you ask people, 'Look at the three things Senator McCain has done as a senator,' if you want that kind of a liberal Democrat course as president, then you can vote for him," Romney said at a later rally in West Palm Beach. "But those three pieces of legislation, those aren't conservative, those aren't Republican, those are not the kind of leadership that we need as we go forward."
The McCain campaign responded by charging that Romney's campaign "is based on the wholesale deception of voters."
"On every one of the issues he has attacked John McCain on, Romney was for it before he was against it," McCain's camp responded.
The McCain campaign cited Romney's onetime support for campaign finance measures, a Northeast regional cap-and-trade program, and his statement in 2005 that McCain's immigration bill was "reasonable" and "quite different" from amnesty.
"One thing we should give Governor Romney credit for: He is consistent," the Arizona senator told reporters after a visit to a shipyard in Jacksonville. "He's consistently taken both sides of every issue. He has consistently flip-flopped on every issue."
The fighting came as polls released yesterday showed McCain and Romney virtually tied in Florida, with Rudy Giuliani, who staked his candidacy on winning the state, battling for a distant third with Mike Huckabee. A representative survey by Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby showed McCain leading Romney 33 percent to 30 percent, with Giuliani at 14 percent and Huckabee at 11 percent. The poll was conducted Friday through Sunday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Faced with such a tight race, Romney used five rallies across the state to paint McCain as a disloyal Republican. In wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina, McCain reaped strong support from independents. But in Florida, only the 3.8 million registered Republicans are allowed to vote in the GOP primary.
At his first rally in West Palm Beach, Romney reminded voters that McCain reportedly considered running for vice president with Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat from Massachusetts, in 2004.
"Had someone asked me that question, there would not have been a nanosecond of thought about it. It would've been an immediate laugh," Romney said. "So, we are different. I'm conservative"
A McCain aide rejected the claim that McCain considered becoming Kerry's running mate. "If he had, it would have been a more conservative ticket than if he had run as Mitt Romney's nominee," said advisor Mark Salter.
Behind the scenes, both campaigns cranked out phone calls that buttressed their arguments. Romney's camp launched automated phone calls that replayed remarks that Bill Clinton made about his wife, Hillary Clinton, in South Carolina on Friday.
"She and John McCain are very close," Bill Clinton says on the phone calls, according to the Politico website. "They always laughed that if they wound up being the nominees of their party, it would be the most civilized election in American history."
McCain launched a Web-only ad that uses the intro music from "Masterpiece Theater" to present "A Tale of Two Mitts," a compilation of video clips showing Romney's varying statements on abortion, fealty to the Republican Party, support for gun control, and other issues. The ad ends with the message : "Mitt Romney's flip flops truly are masterpieces."
McCain is also airing a radio ad criticizing Romney's healthcare reform in Massachusetts, his fiscal record in the Bay State, and his proposed $20 billion research aid package for the auto industry.
The well-funded Romney campaign, however, has led the Florida ad wars, airing 4,475 television spots between March 2007 and January 2008 - well ahead of Giuliani's 3,067 ads and McCain's 470, according to The Nielsen Co. figures released yesterday.
Sasha Issenberg of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.
