Romney, McCain Fling Accusations at Each Other

The race for the Republican presidential nomination is really heating up. Two leading republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney and John McCain, have been trading allegations against each other, both accusing the other of being liberals.

Romney said, "If you ask people, 'Look at the three things Senator McCain has done as a senator,' if you want that kind of a liberal Democrat course as president, then you can vote for him." Criticizing the nature of McCain's political position, he pointed out, "But those three pieces of legislation, those aren't conservative, those aren't Republican, those are not the kind of leadership that we need as we go forward." Speaking to phone bank workers, Romney also insinuated that the three bills McCain supported took America on "a liberal Democrat course".

He also drew references to a proposed tie up, in 2004, of McCain with John Kerry, the democratic candidate. Romney said, "Had someone asked me that question, there would not have been a nanosecond of thought about it; it would have been an immediate laugh," and continued, "And, of course, if someone asked him if he would consider me as a running mate, he would have also laughed immediately."







In response, McCain attacked Romney for deceiving voters, saying that the Romney had earlier backed the very issues that he was now attacking. He said Romney "was for campaign finance reform, and even proposed taxing political contributions. He was for cap and trade and even proposed a tax that would have increased the price of gasoline at the pump. He called our immigration bill reasonable and not amnesty." McCain said in an interview on The Associated Press, "On every one of the issues he has attacked us on, Mitt Romney was for it before he was against it."

He continued, "The truth is, Mitt Romney was a liberal governor of Massachusetts who raised taxes, imposed with Ted Kennedy a big government mandate health care plan that is now a quarter of a billion dollars in the red, and managed his state's economy incompetently, leaving Massachusetts with less job growth than 46 other states." McCain also drew parallels between Romney and Kerry through an ad that juxtaposed Romney's face over Kerry's windsurfing.

With McCain and Romney running very close in a tight campaign, the repartee between the two candidates, coming only days before "Super Tuesday" on February 5, 2008, is an indication of the pitch the battle has reached.

McCain, who has often said that he is running the campaign in the name of national security, is a respected politician with a military background. The senator from Arizona has also been endorsed by two of Florida's leading Republicans, Senator Mel Martinez and Governor Charlie Crist, apart from some newspapers from the state.

Romney started campaigning early Florida and has made his presence known. The successful businessman turned politician is relying on his perceived economic capability to get him the votes. Meanwhile Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee, the two other republicans in the race, seem to be fast losing out.