Romney in N.H. slams Kerry's record

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Governor Mitt Romney traveled to New Hampshire yesterday for a turn on the national political stage, defending President Bush's record while slamming Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts for waffling on Iraq, education, and trade.

"I don't think I can put my finger on what he fights for," Romney said of his home state senator, who was favored to win the New Hampshire primary. "I see him coming down squarely on both sides of issues."

In response, Kerry spokesman David Wade defended Kerry as a fighter. "If Karl Rove has turned Mitt Romney into a GOP attack dog before the first votes are counted in the New Hampshire primary, it's pretty clear that someone in the White House is terrified of John Kerry," Wade said last night.

Romney, the latest in a series of Republicans to come to New Hampshire to defend President Bush in the face of Democratic attacks, said Kerry has a "less distinctive" legislative record than Edward M. Kennedy, the senior senator from Massachusetts, and other senators.

Romney said Kennedy is consistent, while Kerry has voted for the Iraq war, Bush's education law, and NAFTA and then qualified those positions during the campaign. Later in the day, however, Romney lumped both Massachusetts Democratic senators together, telling CNN that Kerry is a "Ted Kennedy Democrat."

During yesterday's visit, Romney tried at times to depersonalize his political attacks on the Democratic front-runner. "I like him personally, and we get along socially," Romney told reporters before the speech.

Yesterday's trip was the first real foray into national politics for Romney, who has been mentioned as a future presidential candidate. A planned trip to California to campaign for Arnold Schwarzenegger was aborted last year after a Romney spokeswoman likened sexual harassment allegations against Schwarzenegger to episodes in Kennedy's past. Schwarzenegger is married to Maria Shriver, Kennedy's niece.

While Romney was out stumping for Bush yesterday, a group of Massachusetts Democratic lawmakers made their way to the Granite State, too, virtually all of them volunteering for either Kerry or former Vermont governor Howard Dean.

The Bay State lawmakers visited Manchester, Dover, and Nashua. Among the state legislators were Senator Marc R. Pacheco of Taunton, and several representatives, including Marie P. St. Fleur of Dorchester, Mark V. Falzone of Saugus, Peter J. Koutoujian of Newton, and J. James Marzilli Jr. of Arlington. "Right now, I'm standing outside, freezing my fingers and toes off," Marzilli said in an afternoon telephone interview from Peterborough, N.H. "I typically do not do much in Democratic presidential primaries, because they are the black hole of politics because they can suck in all your time, energy, and money. But this is a different year. Kerry brings many fine qualities to the office, and there is a man in the Oval Office who I consider the most dangerous president in the history of this nation."

Pacheco spent much of yesterday traveling by van from polling place to polling place in Nashua, making sure that volunteers were adequately fed and heated. He had plenty of help, about 50 people from Southeastern Massachusetts who arrived by bus to aid Kerry.

"Today is all about handing out Hershey's bars and making sure our bases are covered," he said.

Meanwhile, more than 100 people paid $10 each to hear Romney speak at a Portsmouth luncheon, which was sponsored by the Seacoast Federation of Republican Women. The crowd was sparse compared with those that came out to hear other Bush surrogates in recent days: former mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York City, Governor George Pataki of New York, and Senator John McCain of Arizona all drew crowds of 300 or more. But after enduring weeks of Democratic ads criticizing Bush, the GOP faithful were thankful for Romney's pep talk. "They crucify him! He sounds like the devil," Claire Russo, a retired elementary school teacher from Rye, said of the Democrats' portrayal of the president. "You just hope that people don't believe it."

Kevin Madden, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said Romney and the other Republicans have helped counter "all the negative talk going on about the president."

Bush is scheduled to be in New Hampshire Thursday. Bush lost the state in the 2000 GOP primary to McCain, but won the state narrowly in the general election -- his only victory in the Northeast.

Romney had to run a gantlet of Democratic campaign signs as he pulled off Interstate 95, but once inside the Sheraton Hotel he was in friendly territory. In the lobby outside the ballroom, federation members sold rhinestone elephant broaches and bumper stickers that said, "Thinking Women Vote Republican."

As the mostly female crowd lunched on chicken and mashed potatoes, Romney told them the Democratic presidential candidates were offering only "pessimism and divisiveness," while Bush had provided leadership in the fight against terrorism and had jump-started the US economy with tax cuts.

Raphael Lewis of the Globe staff contributed to this report.