Romney Tracker

New Hampshire Senator to Endorse Romney's Presidential Bid

By PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press Writer

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg is backing Republican Mitt Romney's presidential bid.

Gregg will join Romney at a noon rally on Monday in Concord and then walk with him to the Statehouse, where the former Massachusetts governor will submit the paperwork to get his name on the primary ballot.

"Mitt Romney embodies New Hampshire's values -- values that stress government living within its means, lower taxes, a stronger military and stronger families," Gregg said in a statement from the Romney campaign. "Governor Romney is the strong leader we need to lead America forward."

The endorsement is hardly a surprise. Concord lawyer Tom Rath, one of Gregg's principle political advisers, is a fixture in the Romney campaign; several of Gregg's aides are on loan to the Romney campaign.

Gregg, the top Republican on the Budget Committee, is a former New Hampshire governor who won his first Senate term in 1992.

John Sununu, the state's other Republican senator who faces a tough re-election bid in 2008, has said he doesn't plan to endorse during the primary.

Romney Uses Scare Tactics to Make Point

By RASHA MADKOUR
Associated Press Writer

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney offered a verbal tour of "Hillary's House of Horrors" on Saturday, conjuring images of Halloween spook houses to underscore his criticisms of Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"You go in one room, she wants to raise your taxes. You go in another room and she wants to have government taking over health care," Romney said to laughter and applause at a town hall meeting in southwest Florida. "You go in the next room and she's weakened homeland security by voting against the authority of our government to listen in to al-Qaida's calls."

Romney said he would keep Clinton from reaching the White House not by acting like her -- an apparent dig at rival Rudy Giuliani -- but by building on the conservative foundation laid by Ronald Reagan.

Romney also touted his bipartisan work with a Democratic legislature while he was governor of Massachusetts. Responding to an audience member who expressed frustration with Congress members who strictly vote along party lines, Romney pledged to work with opposition leaders.

"We had to agree to solve things together," Romney said, citing his state's health care reform effort and balanced budget. "I will not make it a personal, rancorous battle."

Reached by telephone phone later in the day, Clinton campaign spokesman, Mo Elleithee said: "Given Governor Romney's long history of flip floppping on issues, we're not worried. We expect him to endorse us any day."

This is Romney's 18th campaign trip to the Sunshine State, but a recent poll from Quinnipiac University showed him last among the top four Republican candidates, with 12 percent voter support. Giuliani remained ahead of the pack with 30 percent; John McCain and Fred Thompson were tied with 14 percent.

Asked about the poll numbers after the town hall meeting, Romney acknowledged, "I've got a long way to go."

"But if someone were fortunate enough to do real well in Iowa and New Hampshire, you can bet they're going to get a real boost in Florida," Romney said. "I'm pleased that in the early states where I've spent the most time, I'm doing the best. If it were the opposite, I'd be worried."

Earlier in the day, Romney joined a procession of swamp buggies, all-terrain vehicles and high school marching bands in the annual Swamp Buggy Parade in Naples.

Romney shook hands, kissed babies and let dogs sniff his knuckles during the almost hourlong trek.

He spoke later at the Panhandle GOP Celebration Dinner in Fort Walton Beach, largely repeating the remarks he made earlier.

Romney Predicts Giuliani's Support Will Fade

By MIKE GLOVER
Associated Press Writer

Mitt Romney says the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination will come down to Rudy Giuliani and a more conservative challenger. Like Mitt Romney.

It's no surprise that Giuliani is doing well in national polls of Republicans, Romney said Friday, because candidates with more conservative views on social issues such as abortion and gay rights are splitting the support of like-minded voters.

At some point, the former Massachusetts governor said, the party's conservative base will coalesce around a single candidate, making it tougher for Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City.

"Those of us who represent that base will find that we can get that support and ultimately face up one-to-one with Mayor Giuliani," Romney said. "At that point he'll have a more challenging time because I do not believe the Republican Party is going to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House by acting like Hillary Clinton."

Giuliani supports abortion rights and has favored gay rights and gun control. On abortion in particular, Giuliani has sought to ease the worries of conservatives by pledging to appoint judges in the mold of Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Romney said that's not enough.

"I think being pro-life is more than saying you'll appoint strict constructionist judges," Romney said.

He spoke during a taping of Iowa Public Television's "Iowa Press" program and later during a meeting with reporters.

"I hope it comes down to me and Mayor Giuliani," said Romney. "I think Mayor Giuliani will likely be one of the last two as well. If I'm successful in this effort then I'll be one of the two."

For now, he said, Giuliani has maintained his lead in polls because so many candidates are vying for support from social conservatives.

"There are a lot of us fighting on that side. There are six, seven or eight of us going after that audience and Mayor Giuliani is pretty much alone on the other side," Romney said. "It's not a big surprise that he continues to hold that portion of the party."

"I think his positions are not entirely aligned with the mainstream Republican voter."

A spokesman for Giuliani dismissed Romney's comments.

"This sounds likes sour grapes from Mitt Romney as Mayor Giuliani's support continues to grow and Mitt's numbers are dropping despite spending millions of his own money," said spokesman Jarrod Agen.

While Giuliani has built a lead in national polls, Romney has focused his campaigning and spending on key early states, especially Iowa and New Hampshire. Polls show he leads in those states, and Romney said that support will be hard to overcome.

"I think you're going to see the other candidates come on with their spending and their ads and their time and try and catch up," he said. "It's hard to catch up with the number of personal meetings I've had."

Romney said his campaign experience and success in the traditional early states has made him a backer of the current campaign calendar.

"I think that has to be protected," he said. "I will work hard as the nominee, or if I'm the next president, to protect Iowa and New Hampshire's role coming at the beginning."

Iowa Republicans have scheduled their precinct caucuses on Jan. 3 to keep them as the nation's first test, and Democrats are expected to take the same step this weekend. Romney said the specific date is less important than that Iowa and New Hampshire lead off the process.

"If X, Y, Z state jumps ahead and says we're going to go Dec. 15, I would cry foul," he said. "That would be something I simply could not support."

Romney Jabs at Clintons' 'Family Values'

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Thursday jabbed at the "family values" of Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, harkening back to former President Clinton's affair with a White House intern.

Responding to a guest at a house party in Hooksett, N.H., who asked him how he would instill "family values" as president, Romney said that if elected he would try to set an example.

"One of the ways that you help instill, if you will, family values is by having a White House be a place that demonstrates family values," Romney said. "And, you know, I think during the last Clinton presidency, the White House did not demonstrate that in a way that was helpful to our nation's character."

The former Massachusetts governor said that when someone runs for high office, "you recognize you're going to be under a microscope, and at least during the time you're in the White House, you have to live by high standards because the world is looking at you."

Clinton's second term was dominated by an investigation by Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr into allegations of misconduct, including whether the president had perjured himself regarding his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The House approved two articles of impeachment against him, but the Senate fell short of the votes necessary to convict.

In response, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said: "Hillary Clinton needs no lessons on character from a man who switches his positions on a daily basis."

Romney Wants to Seat all Convention Delegates

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he wants all delegates seated at next year's GOP Convention. Republican leaders have recommended stripping five states of half their delegates for moving up their nomination contests. The party has a rule banning contests before February 5th. During a campaign appearance this morning in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Romney said he would like to see all delegates seated. But the former Massachusetts governor also said he wanted to protect the "Iowa first, New Hampshire second process." Wyoming plans to hold its nominating conventions on January 5th. Michigan, South Carolina and Florida have also scheduled January primaries. New Hampshire hasn't set its primary date yet, but a state law requires its primary to be held at least seven days before any other.

Mormon Romney Finds Christian Support

By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has been embraced in a most unlikely place: at Bob Jones University, the influential Christian college that teaches that his Mormon church is a cult.

In early voting South Carolina, Romney has picked up support among the evangelicals and social conservatives who are a political force.

Last week, Romney won the endorsements of Bob Jones III and Robert Taylor, the founder's grandson and a top dean respectively here at Bob Jones University.

He also gained the backing of Don Wilton, the immediate past president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and pastor of a nearby megachurch, as well as Dr. John Willke, a founder and past president of the National Right to Life Committee.

During the same one-week period, the former Massachusetts governor eked out a win in a straw poll at the socially conservative Values Voter Summit in Washington.

Taken together, the endorsements and straw poll victory show that while evangelicals may not agree with the tenets of his Mormon faith, or even the standing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a Christian faith, some have decided to heed Romney's request for support.

They are looking at his apple-cheeked family and clean-living lifestyle and finding comfort in his pledge to support their social philosophy should he become president.

That's an achievement for a candidate who embraced abortion rights as recently as November 2004. He now says he has changed his mind and wants to overturn the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

"It's hard to see, but I think that they just realized that he's the best of a bad lot. I hate to say it that way," said Dave Woodard, a longtime GOP activist and political science professor at Clemson University.

Romney's standing is hardly secure.

Wilton retracted his endorsement Tuesday, saying he never intended for word of his support for Romney to become national news. "It was my personal error to agree to support Romney's campaign," the pastor said in a statement. "Until this incident I had never endorsed any person running for any elected office, Democrat or Republican."

Woodard, meanwhile, expects that former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, a fellow Southerner, will win the Jan. 19 GOP primary in South Carolina. Thompson, though, has not campaigned here since his announcement tour, nor has he paid a $35,000 fee to appear on the primary ballot. He is expected to do so Wednesday when he returns for his first campaign appearance in more than a month.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a one-time Baptist minister now campaigning for president, also has seen interest among evangelicals deepen since Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas -- a conservative darling -- dropped out of the race last week.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been near the top in polls of likely South Carolina Republican primary voters.

But Giuliani's standing is shaky among social conservatives who are expected to dominate the vote. Among other things, they disagree with his support for abortion rights and his opposition to a federal ban on gay marriage.

"I think probably his biggest selling point is that he happened to be mayor of New York when 9/11 happened," said Taylor, the Bob Jones University arts and sciences dean who endorsed Romney. "The reaction of the country was pretty unanimous and he just happened to be there."

In endorsing Romney, Taylor said he and Chancellor Bob Jones III looked past their belief that Mormons, as well as Catholics, belong to a "cult." Taylor said among evangelicals, the term more broadly applies to what they consider non-Christian theologies, not the more popular understanding of allegiance to a domineering figurehead.

Jones, who had laryngitis and could not be interviewed by the AP, told the Greenville News: "As a Christian, I am completely opposed to the doctrines of Mormonism. But I'm not voting for a preacher; I'm voting for a president."

Wilton, the pastor in nearby Spartanburg, said in his now-retracted endorsement: "While we may not agree on theology, Governor Romney and I agree that this election is about our country heading in the right direction."

In exit polls for the 2004 general election, 88 percent of white voters in South Carolina who described themselves as evangelicals or born-again Christians said they voted for President Bush, while only 11 percent voted for Democrat John Kerry.

More recently, data from three recent AP-Ipsos polls showed that among born-again Christians, 22 percent said they'd vote for Thompson, 17 percent for Giuliani and 13 percent for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Romney was at 8 percent, essentially tied with Huckabee, who had 9 percent, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had 8 percent.

Most of Romney's support, 72 percent, came from self-described conservatives, 21 percent from moderates and only 5 percent from liberals.

Kirk Alford, a 62-year-old former Army Ranger and retired federal court official from Greenville, described himself as a conservative -- and pragmatic -- voter as he voiced support for Romney.

"To me, the key is we really need to find somebody who can beat Hillary Clinton. I just think Clinton would be a disaster," Alford said.

Kendell Hawkins, a 36-year-old paralegal from Greenville, said she favored Giuliani because of his leadership following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but also was amenable to Romney despite their religious differences.

"I'm not going to judge somebody's religion, what their personal decisions are," Hawkins said. "If he can make good decisions and lead us and bring us back to be a strong country, then that's all I care about."

Romney Slip: Another Osama-Obama Mix-Up

In a slip of the tongue, Republican Mitt Romney accused Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama of urging terrorists to congregate in Iraq.

In the midst of criticizing Obama and other Democrats on foreign and economic policy Tuesday, the GOP presidential hopeful said:

"Actually, just look at what Osam -- Barack Obama -- said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. ... It's almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living in fantasyland. Their idea for jihad is to retreat, and their idea for the economy is to also retreat. And in my view, both efforts are wrongheaded."

Romney apparently was referring to an audiotape aired Monday in which a speaker believed to be terrorist Osama bin Laden called for insurgents in Iraq to unite and avoid divisions. The authenticity of the tape aired on Al-Jazeera television could not be immediately confirmed.

Besides his criticism of Obama, Romney said: "It's my personal belief that having someone like John Edwards, a senator, who goes out and communicates that there is no global war on terror -- that it's just a Bush bumper sticker -- I think that is a position that is not consistent with the facts."

Romney was addressing a Chamber of Commerce meeting. Spokesman Kevin Madden said: "He misspoke. He was referring to the audiotape of Osama bin Laden and misspoke. It was just a mix-up."

An Obama spokesman asked to review the quote before commenting.

In January, CNN apologized for mistakenly promoting a story on the search for Osama bin Laden with the headline "Where's Obama?"

(This version CORRECTS REPLACES Romney campaign comment to DELETE incorrect reference to candidate correcting himself during speech; ADDS no comment from Obama and background on similar mistake.)

Romney Pays Filing Fee for Arkansas Primary

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has paid the $15,000 filing fee to be on the Febrary 5th primary ballot in Arkansas.

The former governor of Massachusetts is considered among the front-runners in the Republican presidential race that also includes former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Karen Ray, director of the Arkansas Republican Party, said the state party received the check and an Octobefr first letter from Romney's campaign earlier this month.

The actual filing period for the Arkansas primary begins next month. Ray says she expects all of the Republican candidates for president to file for the primary.

Romney Calls United Nations a 'Failure'

By JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press Writer

Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney called the United Nations a failure on Thursday and said he would support a new coalition of the free nations of the world.

The former Massachusetts governor said the U.N. Human Rights Council has repeatedly condemned Israel while taking no action against nations with repressive regimes.

"The United Nations has been an extraordinary failure of late," Romney said in response to a question at a pancake house along the coast of early voting South Carolina. "We should withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council."

Actually, the United States doesn't have a seat on the human rights council, which it has been boycotting.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom later clarified the remarks.

"The governor believes we ought to withdraw completely from the U.N. Human Rights Council, and that means ending our financial support in addition to not seeking a seat on the council," Fehrnstrom said. "We should not legitimize the council, either with financial or diplomatic support."

Romney also said he would support a new "coalition of the free nations of the world and bring those nations together so that we can act together."

"We should develop some of our own -- if you will -- forums and alliances or groups that have the ability to actually watch out for the world and do what's right," Romney said.

Romney was sharing the political attention in this state with GOP rival John McCain, who is on his second consecutive day of campaigning here.

McCain, in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, accused both Russia and China of causing gridlock in the U.N. Security Council and hindering the world body's ability to sanction Iran or address pressing matters in Darfur, Burma and other trouble spots.

If elected, McCain said he would form a league of democracies to circumvent the Security Council and enact tough sanction against Iran and other problem countries.

On Thursday, the Romney campaign also unveiled a Web ad featuring Romney's wife, Ann, praising Romney as a good father and husband against a video backdrop of family gatherings and horseplay. The ad, called "Our Home," comes just a day before Romney speaks in Washington to social conservatives at the Value Voters Summit. It also dovetails with Romney's recent pitch that the best way to guarantee the well-being of children is through two-parent families.

The Romneys have five sons and ten grandchildren. Of the leading Republicans in the presidential contest, Romney is the only one who has not been divorced.

"Mitt says his greatest success is being able to say 'I have been a good father, and a good husband,'" Ann Romney says in the ad. "Mitt says there's no work more important than what goes on within the four walls of the American home. And that's the way it was in our home."

In Florence, S.C., Romney was asked the endorsement he picked up from Bob Jones III earlier this week. Jones is the chancellor of Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian school that bears his grandfather's name.

Romney, noting that Jones was no fan of his Mormon faith, recalled Jones saying, "'I'd rather endorse someone whose religion is wrong than somebody who doesn't have any religion at all.'"

Romney said he had met with Jones a couple of times and they had the same values.

"We love this country. We love families. We want marriage before babies," Romney said. "We have the same things we want to fight for on issue after issue, so I'm happy to have his support."

McCain, Romney Woo Social Conservatives

By LIZ SIDOTI
Associated Press Writer

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain's argument to woo restive religious and social conservatives comes down to this: "I have a record that can be trusted." GOP rival Mitt Romney's goes like this: "I am pro-family on every level, from personal to political."

The two are among the Republican presidential hopefuls speaking to a gathering of "values voters" in Washington. This influential part of the party's base has not coalesced around a Republican candidate, and all the major competitors are auditioning for the part in speeches this weekend.

In remarks prepared for delivery Friday and made available to The Associated Press, McCain and Romney separately challenge the candidacy of Rudy Giuliani, although neither names the former New York mayor who backs abortion rights and gay rights.

"We're not going to beat Hillary Clinton by acting like Hillary Clinton," Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, says. Adds McCain, the Arizona senator: "This is not the time to turn our back on the progress we've made on the issues that matter most."

Both comments served as appeals to religious and social conservatives that they should not support a candidate with moderate-to-liberal views on their core issues.

Despite his left-leaning positions and three marriages, Giuliani has attracted the support of some of those voters by courting the economic and defense wings of the party while arguing that he has the best chance to beat the Democratic front-runner.

But McCain and Romney argue they deserve the support of religious and social conservatives.

"I'll match my record of defending conservative principles against any other candidate in this race," McCain says. "I know you might not always agree with me on every issue, but I hope you know I'm not going to con you."

McCain's trust-me pitch gets to the heart of his woes with this group; it doesn't trust the man who in 2000 called its leaders "agents of intolerance." He also hasn't been a vocal champion of its core issues -- even though his voting record is solidly conservative.

"I have been pro-life my entire public career," he says, drawing a contrast with Giuliani, who backs abortion rights, and Romney, who now opposes such rights after once supporting them. "I won't ever change my position to fit the politics of the day." Romney, who ran for governor as a moderate in 2002 but who has shifted to the right as he seeks the presidency, was the target of that remark.

In his own speech, Romney, whose Mormon faith has made some evangelical Christians wary, emphasizes his three-decade-long marriage to one woman, Ann, as well as his five sons, daughters-in-law and 10 grandchildren.

"Family is the building block of the nation," Romney says.

He talks of "three legs of the Republican stool" -- a stronger military, a stronger economy, and stronger families -- that unite the three types of conservatives in the party, defense, economic and social.

In a slap at Giuliani, he says: "We won't win the White House with only 2 out of 3 or 1 out of 3."

He also implicitly tries to dismiss the notion that his Mormon religion is repelling Christian conservatives, saying: "I'm pleased that so many people of many faiths have come to endorse my candidacy and my message."