ANALYSIS | Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucus by a mere eight votes, narrowly edging out a victory over a surprisingly popular Rick Santorum.
Romney's razor-thin victory came after attack ads sunk Newt Gingrich, his previous top competitor, in the weeks leading up to the January 3 voting. Shortly before placing a disappointing fourth in Iowa, the former Speaker of the House declared himself "Romney-boated," according to the Statesman Journal, and an analysis showed that 45 percent of all political ads airing on television in the Hawkeye State were attack ads aimed at Gingrich.
What sort of firepower are Romney and Santorum facing as the Republicans go for their second primary contest?
First and foremost, Newt Gingrich has declared gloves off against Romney in New Hampshire in retaliation for Romney's treatment of him in Iowa, says the New York Times. Romney, who was surprisingly unscathed leading up to the Iowa caucus and faced no attack ads singling him out, insisted that he was ready for the coming onslaught, reported The Hill.
The onslaught appears to be arriving, asserts the International Business Times, with Romney facing a relatively-unified force of his five remaining competitors. Even Democratic president Barack Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, openly criticized Romney after the Iowa caucus, claiming the frontrunner only won by having his political action committees "carpet bomb" Newt Gingrich with negative ads.
Businessweek reports that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, Romney's top two competitors, are currently speaking out against the former Massachusetts governor in New Hampshire, with Ron Paul also airing radio spots criticizing Romney as a liberal. Rick Perry, who has returned to Texas after his fifth-place finish in Iowa, has also indicated his intent to "take the contest to Mitt Romney," says the Deseret News.
While Romney faces a barrage, so does his new rival Rick Santorum: The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, now the de facto second-place GOP candidate, has faced negative campaigning from Rick Perry, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney, reports USA Today. Newt Gingrich also criticized Santorum, according to Fox News, by claiming Santorum was inexperienced and had little depth of knowledge of true conservatism.
Santorum faced sharper attacks by former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who recently endorsed Mitt Romney. The 2008 GOP nominee denied that Santorum was a fiscal conservative and mocked the former Senator's alleged penchant for earmarks, says Reuters. Santorum's use of government earkmarks is detailed in an article by the Huffington Post, which alleges that other Republicans in Congress dispute the notion that Santorum is a true conservative.
With rhetoric against both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum heating up, possibly as the rest of the candidates realize they have nothing to lose by going negative at this late date, it stands to reason that the Republican primaries are about to show a lot more mudslinging leading up to the voting in New Hampshire. Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Rick Perry all stand to gain votes of Rick Santorum's supporters if they can make Santorum look like a nonviable candidate, and all four of the aforementioned Republicans can stretch out the primaries by denying Mitt Romney early victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
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