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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, January 6, 2008

Romney goes on the offensive in GOP New Hampshire debate

 •  Iowa win shows Obama's appeal
 •  Wyoming gives Romney 1st win
 •  Obama inconsistent, Clinton says; Edwards rebukes her

By Liz Sidoti
Associated Press

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney clashed with Mike Huckabee on foreign policy and John McCain on immigration last night in a high-stakes presidential campaign debate three days before the New Hampshire primary.

"It's not amnesty," McCain shot back after Romney criticized his plan for overhauling the immigration system. "You can spend your whole fortune on these attacks ads, my friend, but it's not true."

Earlier, Romney criticized Huckabee for having written that the Bush administration was guilty of an "arrogant bunker mentality" on foreign policy.

"Did you read the article before you commented on it?" asked Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor.

"I read the article, the whole article," Romney shot back.

Romney's aggressive demeanor reflected the stakes in the wide-open race for the Republican presidential nomination. Huckabee defeated him in the Iowa caucuses on Thursday with an underfunded campaign. Now Romney faces a strong challenge from a resurgent McCain in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary Tuesday.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Texas Rep. Ron Paul also shared the stage, but they were largely eclipsed during the 90-minute debate as Romney, McCain and Huckabee struggled for advantage.

Both Huckabee and McCain jabbed at Romney for having changed his position on numerous issues such as abortion, gun control and gay rights.

"You are the candidate of change," McCain said with a laugh.

And Huckabee, admonished not to characterize Romney's position on the Iraq war, replied, "which one."

Romney's aides were at work challenging Huckabee's truth-telling even when their candidate himself did not.

As the debate unfolded and Huckabee said he had supported President Bush's decision a year ago to increase troop strength in Iraq, Romney's campaign quickly e-mailed reporters with a Huckabee quote to a different effect. "Well, I'm not sure that I support the troop surge, if that surge has to come from our Guard and Reserve troops, which have really been overly stretched," it said he told MSNBC last January.

McCain sought to stress his national security credentials against major rivals whose political resumes are limited to governorships.

He said he had been the first one in the race to say the president's initial strategy in the war in Iraq was not working, "And I again say that I'm glad to know that now everybody supported the surge."

He added, "I was criticized by Republicans at that time. And that was a low point, but I stuck to it. I didn't change. I didn't say we needed a secret plan for withdrawal."

Immigration emerged again in the debate as an issue that divided McCain and Romney.

McCain has long backed a path to citizenship for millions living in the country illegally provided they meet certain requirements. Romney is running an ad that says McCain "wrote the amnesty bill that America rejected."

"I've never supported amnesty," McCain said, taking issue with the characterization and describing several steps immigrants must meet.

Romney allowed: "What he describes is technically true, which is his plan does not provide amnesty because he charges people $5,000 to be able to stay."

All six men on stage sought to weave their way through a question about whether they would run on Bush's foreign policy or run against it.

McCain said Bush deserves credit for his successes as he should take the blame for failures.

Huckabee said the administration's arrogance was reflected in former defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saying an invasion force of 180,000 troops would be sufficient in Iraq.

Thompson agreed that the administration had gone to war in Iraq without enough troops. "Presidents are not perfect. Policies are not perfect," he said, although he added, "we are on our way toward prevailing there."

Giuliani said Bush "got the big decision of his presidency right ... when he put us on offense against Islamic terrorists."