[An Nahar] A tightened field vying for the Republican nomination took aim at frontrunner Mitt Romney...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field...
in a fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
debate here just days before South Carolina's presidential primary.
Before a raucous audience late Monday, the four candidates lagging behind Romney in polls ahead of Saturday's key vote slammed the former Massachusetts governor and traded charges over a rash of nasty attack ads by outside groups.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is trailing in the battle to be the party's standard-bearer in the November election against President Barack ObamaWhy can't I just eat my waffle?...
, came out swinging against Romney, scoring several hits with the crowd.
Gingrich said Romney should answer questions about his time as a venture capitalist with a company called Bain Capital, after Romney's rivals slammed him for buying out firms to leave them bankrupt and reap the rewards.
The multi-millionaire Romney was also called on to release his tax records, and said he may do so later in the year, without making a firm commitment.
Romney hit back against the attacks, led in a kind of pincer movement by Gingrich and former U.S. senator Rick Santorum, who lost the Iowa caucuses to Romney earlier this month by a razor-thin margin.
Romney defended his "record of success" in the private sector, arguing that his business and managerial acumen makes him the candidate best able to defeat Obama and revive the sluggish U.S. economy.
Romney and Gingrich traded accusations over negative ads run by multi-million-dollar outside groups, with Romney calling a film about Bain Capital made by Gingrich supporters "the biggest hoax since Big Foot."Gingrich -- who blamed attacks by Romney supporters for his poor showing in Iowa -- mocked Romney's contention that he had no control over such groups, saying it "makes you wonder how much influence he'd have if he were president."
As in previous debates, Romney reserved his harshest criticism for Obama, accusing the president of trying to turn the United States into a "European social welfare state."
Gingrich meanwhile defended his characterization of Obama as "the food stamp president" when a debate moderator questioned whether it was belittling to poor Americans and minorities.
He also stirred up a rare standing ovation from the audience when he defended his idea of employing poor children as public school janitors.
"They'd learn to show up for work. They could do light janitorial duty... They'd be getting money, which is a good thing if you're poor. Only the elites despise earning money," he said.