Romney has new ad, loses endorsement

It's one up, one down for Mitt Romney in South Carolina.

He's up with a new TV ad in which he promises to slash federal spending and "audit" Washington using his business acumen. It's the multimillionaire businessman's latest appeal to Republican voters unhappy with President Bush and the GOP Congress for significantly increasing spending.

"In business, you only spend what you have," Romney says in the spot. "In Washington, government always spends more. It shouldn't be that way. I'm Mitt Romney. I come from the business world – where turning around companies taught me how to manage budgets. That's what I did at the Olympics and as governor.

"As president, I'll audit Washington – top to bottom – and cut spending."

Romney is down one notable endorsement because Don Wilton, immediate past president of the S.C. Baptist Convention, withdrew his backing. Romney trumpeted Wilton's support on the eve of the Values Voter Summit in Washington, a key gathering of Christian conservatives who heard from the GOP presidential contenders.

But according to the Baptist Press, Wilton, who is pastor of the First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, S.C., now says that the endorsement was a mistake and that the Romney campaign has agreed to delete any references to it.

"While I did give my consent to the local campaign to use my affirmation of the Governor's stance on family values in my capacity as an individual citizen, I made the mistake of not realizing the extent to which it would be used on a national basis," Wilton said in a statement.