But his rivals, attempting to position themselves as the one who can beat the former Massachusetts governor, also spent much of the time vigorously attacking one another. That spared Romney any intense, sustained scrutiny as he heads, with a wide lead, into the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
Another debate this morning will be the last chance on a national stage for any of the candidates challenging Romney to try to reshape the race before the Republicans’ first primary.
Last night, Santorum, fresh off his near-win in Iowa, was center stage, next to Romney, and initially feistier than he was in past debates. He and Newt Gingrich were the aggressors in attacking Romney’s tenure as chief executive of Bain Capital and as governor of Massachusetts.
“I was not ever for an individual mandate. I wasn’t for a top down, government-run health care system,’’ Santorum said. “I wasn’t for the big banks or Wall Street bailout, as Governor Romney was. And I stood firm on those.’’
Drawing an implicit contrast with his wealthy rival from Massachusetts, Santorum said he can “appeal to blue-collar workers in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, in Michigan, in Indiana and deliver that message that we care about you, too, not just about Wall Street and bailing them out.’’
Gingrich continued that line of criticism. The former House speaker said that while he supports free enterprise, “I’m not nearly as enamored of a Wall Street model where you can flip companies, you can go in and have leveraged buyouts, you can basically take out all the money, leaving behind the workers.’’
“I think it’s a legitimate part of the debate to say, ‘OK, on balance, were people better off or were people worse off by this particular style of investment?’’’ said Gingrich, insisting that he had not seen a new documentary, done by a group supporting him, that attacks Romney’s record at Bain.
