Days from New Hampshire's bellwether primary, Mitt Romney and his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination on Saturday wooed voters and prepared to clash in a pair of debates just 12 hours apart.
Days from New Hampshire's bellwether primary, Mitt Romney and his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination on Saturday wooed voters and prepared to clash in a pair of debates just 12 hours apart.
The former Massachusetts governor told a crowd of hundreds in a private high school gymnasium here that President Barack Obama was wrong to announce plans for a leaner military in a time of belt-tightening in Washington."I want a military that's superior to anyone else in the world by a wide margin," he said here. "A military that's extraordinarily strong, superior to others, keeps others from doing dangerous things that would threaten us."
Romney was reacting to Obama's plans, announced at the Pentagon Thursday, to refit the US military to face down possible challenges from Iran or China with air and naval power, while virtually ruling out any future counter-insurgency campaigns such as those conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His remarks came hours before a 9 pm (0200 GMT) face-off with other contenders for the party's nomination, followed by a 9 am (1400 GMT) Sunday debate ahead of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday.
Romney's rivals hoped to use the two sparring sessions to dull his momentum here and in the next nominating vote, South Carolina's January 21 primary, lest he build up a head of steam that could make him impossible to stop.
Debates -- more than a dozen of them -- have played an unusually large role in the fight to be the Republican standard-bearer against Obama in the November 6 elections, feeding surges and dealing crushing blows to the other candidates.
A new daily tracking poll by Suffolk University found Romney in the lead here with 39 percent support -- down from 43 percent three days ago -- Representative Ron Paul at 17 percent, and former House speaker Newt Gingrich at 10 percent.
Christian conservative Rick Santorum was at nine percent, seemingly stalled after battling Romney to a near draw in Iowa, while former US China envoy Jon Huntsman was also at nine percent.
Santorum, who has questioned Romney's conservative credentials, warned Saturday that if the frontrunner got the nomination and beat Obama, "even if we win, we lose" because he won't bring "real change" to Washington.
"It's a joke for him (Romney) to call himself a conservative," Gingrich said Friday.
Texas Governor Rick Perry trailed at one percent, and 15 percent of the likely voters in the Republican primary surveyed were still undecided, leaving the race still fluid and making turnout critical.
Romney warned his supporters against complacency fed by his wide lead in New Hampshire, his shot at notching a second win after the Iowa caucus last week.
"Don't get too confident with those poll numbers," he said. "I need to make sure you guys get your friends to vote and you vote as well."
In South Carolina, a Time/CNN/ORC poll found Santorum has surged into second place behind Romney with a 15-point jump in one month to 19 percent -- still well behind the frontrunner's 37 percent support.
Nancy Francis, who is not registered as a Democrat or Republican, said in Derry came to see Romney but leans towards Huntsman because "he's not a wingnut" -- a pejorative term for someone far to the right.
"Some of those others scare me," said Francis, 48, who works at a feed lot in Derry.
Dick Burns, a disabled Vietnam War veteran from Derry holding a "Vets for Romney" sign, said he would definitely vote for the former governor.
"He has the leadership abilities to turn this economy around," said the former Marine, 63.
Obama's drive for a second term in the November 6 elections is weighed down by the sour US economy and unemployment that, by historical standards, is high -- though it slipped in December to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009, the month after he took office.
In his weekly address on Saturday, the embattled Democratic president promised to do "whatever it takes" to maintain growth in the US economy as he announced a summit with business leaders dedicated to job creation at home.
The debates could reset the field: Romney's vast campaign war chest and high-profile endorsements have fed his image as the candidate to beat, but he faces stubborn doubts about his conservative credentials and has never been able to push his support from Republicans above 30 percent.
If core conservatives rally around Santorum -- or another candidate -- Romney could be in for a battle, though none of his current rivals can yet match his fundraising or extensive organization across key states
