Romney clings to big lead

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN AND STEVEN THOMMA | MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

MANCHESTER, N.H. — The race for the Republican presidential nomination has two tiers in this state, which votes Tuesday in the first 2012 primary. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, can take a giant step forward with a big win here, while his five major challengers are vying for the mantle of chief Romney opponent.

If Romney wins as expected, he would become the first non-incumbent Republican to take both the Iowa caucuses, where he eked out an eight-vote victory last week, and this state’s primary. The only suspense for Romney appears to be concern over the margin of his victory. On Monday he held an average margin of 18.7 percentage points over his next-closest competitor in six recent New Hampshire polls, according to the RealClearPolitics website.

If Romney’s final margin is much below that and he’s perceived as slipping, his path forward could get bumpier. A weekend Suffolk University/7News survey found Romney’s support at 33 percent — 13 points ahead of runner-up Texas Rep. Ron Paul and well down from the 40 percent levels Romney’s enjoyed for months.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who skipped Iowa to concentrate on this state, was rising, to 13 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was at 10 percent, as was former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who narrowly lost Iowa to Romney.

Romney’s rivals’ attacks are getting sharper, and some of his statements have given them fresh ammunition. On Monday he got a sample of the heat headed his way, particularly after he told a Nashua business group, “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me,” referring to health insurers who provide inadequate coverage.

Huntsman pounced. “It seems that Gov. Romney believes in putting politics first. Gov. Romney enjoys firing people — I enjoy creating jobs,” the Utahan told a Concord audience.

On Sunday, Romney said, “I know what it’s like to worry whether you’re going to get fired. There were a couple of times I wondered if I was going to get a pink slip.”

Opponents noted that Romney is the wealthy son of a former Michigan governor and auto executive and co-founded the Bain Capital private equity firm, which made him quite wealthy even as it often restructured firms by downsizing their workforces.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is not campaigning here, said at an Anderson, S.C., breakfast that it was the “ultimate insult” for Romney to claim he’s sensitive to laid-off workers’ plights.

“I have no doubt Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips — whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out,” Perry said.

Romney also faced new reports questioning his record as a job creator.

A Wall Street Journal analysis found that when Romney was a top executive at Bain, 22 percent of the companies Bain invested in “either filed for bankruptcy reorganization or closed their doors by the end of the eighth year after Bain invested, sometimes with substantial job losses.” The Journal noted that filing for bankruptcy doesn’t necessarily end in business failure, and that many of Bain’s companies emerged from the process healthier.

A Bain spokesman told the Journal that its findings were “inaccurate and misleading,” and Romney has said that one cannot expect all investments to be successful.

The race for second place behind Romney is volatile. This state’s voters have a history of deciding late, and a WMUR/University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll Jan. 5 to 8 found that only 44 percent had made a definite choice.

“All of the candidates behind Romney have a good chance of finishing anywhere between second and fifth place,” said survey center director Andrew Smith.