Romney challenged on the right

Governor Mitt Romney, who's aiming to be the conservative pick in the 2008 presidential primary, is facing more and more competition from -- and for -- the right.

Not only has Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas thrown his hat in the ring, The New York Times is reporting that former Virginia governor James Gilmore -- a self-described Reagan conservative -- is eyeing a run, too. In fact, Gilmore even appears to be criticizing Romney's shift to more conservative positions since his run for governor in 2002 and his 1994 Senate bid.

"I didn’t run some place and pretend I was a liberal and run someplace else as a conservative. I just didn’t do that," Gilmore is quoted as saying. He says there's a "void" for a true conservative in the current GOP field.

Can we expect more such attacks on Romney's claim of the conservative mantle?