Republican presidential candidates stepped up their attacks on Mitt Romney in a televised debate on Sunday and put the usually unflappable front-runner on the defensive just two days before voters in New Hampshire head to the polls.
Rick Santorum, a social conservative whose campaign caught fire in Iowa and who has pinned hopes more on the next contest in South Carolina, took aim at Romney's political past and emerged unscathed from an exchange about gay rights.
Criticism of Romney zeroed in on the perception that the former Massachusetts governor would be the strongest candidate against Democratic President Barack Obama in the November election.
Wasting no time, former US House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich said Romney would "have a very hard time getting elected."
"There's a huge difference between a Reagan conservative and somebody who comes out of the Massachusetts culture who essentially has a moderate record," Gingrich said during the NBC/Facebook debate in Concord, New Hampshire.
Gingrich's popularity in Iowa cratered in the face of millions of dollars of attack ads run from a Super PAC, an outside group that was supporting Romney.
Gingrich took Romney to task again about the ads on Sunday, saying the spots contained multiple lies. Romney distanced himself from the ads. "Speaker, hold on a second, I can't direct their ads. If there's anything that is wrong, I hope they take it out," said Romney of his SuperPAC supporters.
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