Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney fended off attacks on his business record on Saturday and sailed through a high-stakes debate for Republic Party presidential hopefuls that his rivals used to jockey for position as his conservative alternative in the race for the White House.
Romney received a major break when his main rivals stopped short of going all-out negative against him and instead squabbled among themselves.
That leaves Romney in a strong position in New Hampshire, where polls show him winning the primary handily tomorrow. That would put more pressure on his rivals to try to stop him at the next contest in South Carolina, where he also has a small lead.
Looking cool and confident, Romney repeatedly positioned himself above the fray. He stuck to lines from his campaign stump speech and trained fire on the man he wants to replace in November’s election, US President Barack Obama.
“I don’t want to be critical of the people on this stage,” Romney said at the first of two back-to-back debates that represent the last chance to sway large numbers of voters before New Hampshire votes in its Republican primary tomorrow.
A similar performance at a second debate in Concord scheduled for yesterday was likely to help him close the deal in New Hampshire and put him in a strong -position in South Carolina on Jan. 21, where a victory could give him a virtual lock on the Republican presidential nomination.
For the most part the debate was about the battle for second place in New Hampshire and for the conservative vote in South -Carolina, where Romney’s rivals hope to slow him down.
To that end, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who soared as the conservative alternative to Romney when he came in a close second in Iowa’s caucuses last week, might have helped himself with conservative voters.
Taking center stage for the first time after serving as a second-tier candidate all year, Santorum displayed a wide range of policy views and stuck to his opposition to gay rights and the US Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe versus Wade decision that legalized abortion.
“I am for overturning Roe versus Wade. I do not believe that we have a right in this country, in the Constitution, to take a human life — I don’t think our founders envisioned that,” Santorum said.
Libertarian US Representative Ron Paul, hoping to thwart Santorum’s rise and hang on to second place in New Hampshire, tried to raise doubts about Santorum’s conservative credentials by pointing toward his predilection for securing massive amounts of government aid for his home state.
Santorum has come under scrutiny for a long history of obtaining taxpayer dollars for Pennsylvania for what critics call wasteful projects like US$500,000 for a polar bear exhibit at the Pittsburgh zoo.
Former US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, who skipped Iowa to focus on New Hampshire, accused Romney of trying to instigate a trade war with China with frequent salvos over China’s currency policies.
Huntsman moved into second place in New Hampshire in a poll published on Saturday and needs a big performance to score a breakthrough.
Romney reminded viewers that Huntsman had served in China under Obama.
“I’m sorry, governor, you were, the last two years, implementing the policies of this administration in China. The rest of us on this stage were doing our best to get Republicans elected across the country and stop the policies of this president from being put forward,” Romney said.
At the beginning, the debate looked like it could turn out as advertised, a free-for-all against Romney in hopes to slowing him down.
As Romney’s leadership of the private equity firm Bain Capital comes under scrutiny, Santorum said just because Romney has business experience does not mean he is qualified to serve as the US president.
Former speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, bitter about losing his front--runner status after he was subjected to massive attack ads by Romney and his supporters before Iowa, questioned Romney’s leadership at Bain Capital.
Romney points to his business experience as a selling point during troubled economic times, but his opponents see his leadership of Bain Capital as a negative. The company bought troubled companies and restructured them, sometimes resulting in layoffs and facility closures.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the