MITT ROMNEY took a victory lap in the New Hampshire town of Derry yesterday, following his well-received performance in the debate for the Republican presidential nomination the previous night.
Trailed by some 40 reporters on an unusually cold morning, Mr Romney, who consolidated his position as the front-runner for the presidential nomination on Monday night, returned to see local business owners he had met during the previous presidential campaign, when he lost the nomination to Senator John McCain.
“Things aren’t better now than they were four, five years ago,” Mr Romney said. “People expected things to get better in 2011. It hasn’t happened.
“You can’t blame George Bush any more. President Obama is going to have to take responsibility for the fact that we are still in a very troubled economy.”
The unanimous consensus yesterday was that Mr Romney won the debate, but that Michele Bachmann, the founder of the Tea Party caucus in the House, came in a strong second. Ms Bachmann used the debate to announce that she had “filed today my paperwork to seek the office of the presidency of the United States”.
Mr Romney did not participate in the first Republican debate, in South Carolina last month. The nationally televised two-hour session on Monday night was seen as the real start of the Republican race. The seven candidates minimised their few differences, instead concentrating their attacks on President Barack Obama.
In a USA Today/Gallup poll published before the debate, Mr Romney led the field of Republican contenders with 24 per cent of intended votes. The former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin – who did not take part in the debate – came in second, with 16 per cent.
No other candidate obtained double digit ratings.
Other polls indicate an even higher preference for Mr Romney.
A survey released by the Boston Globe on June 12th credited him with a 32-point lead in New Hampshire and a CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll showed that nationally, two-thirds of Republicans believe Mr Romney could beat Mr Obama – the main criterion sought in a Republican candidate.
Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota who was a possible rival to Mr Romney, was widely seen to have botched his performance.
On the June 12th Sunday television talk shows, Mr Pawlenty attacked Mr Romney’s passage of a healthcare Bill in Massachusetts similar to the one signed by President Obama.
Mr Pawlenty combined their names, mocking “Obamneycare”, but he shrank from criticising Mr Romney on Monday night, saying the term was “a reflection of the president’s comments” that Mr Romney’s Bill inspired his own.
“The president is the person I quoted,” Mr Pawlenty said, an odd assertion, since Mr Obama never used the term “Obamneycare”.
Mr Pawlenty sought to make up for his perceived weakness, telling Fox News yesterday that he didn’t “understand what the kerfuffle’s about” and claiming to have “said the same thing in both appearances”.
The eclipse of Tim Pawlenty could help the former Utah governor, Jon Huntsman, and the current Texas governor, Rick Perry. Neither participated in Monday night’s debate. Mr Huntsman was expected to announce his candidacy in New Jersey yesterday.