Romney goes on offensive against McCain, Huckabee

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney clashed with Mike Huckabee on foreign policy and John McCain on immigration Saturday 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. “My friend, you can spend your whole fortune on these attack ads, but it still won’t be 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,” said Romney.

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 next 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 for significant portions of 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.

The event was part of a rare debate doubleheader, Republicans first, Democrats second, in the same hall at Saint Anselm College. Intermission brought White House hopefuls from both parties onto the stage at the same time, an unusual occurrence that left McCain chatting with Democratic New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

McCain, whose candidacy appeared at the point of collapse last summer, 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.”

McCain added that “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 of people 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.”