DES MOINES, Iowa ? Bunched at the top of the Iowa polls, both Ron Paul and Rick Santorum faced intensified scrutiny of their records Sunday morning, with Paul insisting in a pair of show outings that his past stances are ?pretty mainstream.?
?I think the people who are attacking me now are the ones who can?t defend their records,? Paul said on CNN?s ?State of the Union.? On ?Fox News Sunday,? the Texas congressman was pressed on statements in his 1987 book ?Freedom Under Siege? that suggest both AIDS patients and targets of sexual harassment should take more personal responsibility for their problems.
Continue ReadingPaul defended both positions, saying that he didn?t believe either called for federal government intervention.
Back in Iowa, Newt Gingrich, who?s plummeted from the top spot he held just weeks ago, kept up his attacks on Mitt Romney, jabbing the former Massachusetts governor for the massive campaign spending being done on his behalf ? both by Romey?s campaign and a friendly super PAC that has run slashing ads against Gingrich.
Trying to argue for his viability should Romney win Iowa and New Hampshire, Gingrich said Romney will have spent almost as much per vote as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg did in his mayoral race. ?Romney would buy the election if he could,? Gingrich said.
The comment appeared to be a surprise to Gingrich?s wife, Callista, who then joked that they were going to be late for brunch.
With the candidates off to a slower-than-usual start due to the New Year?s holiday, Paul?s show outings on Sunday dominated the early part of the day after a Des Moines Register poll that showed him in a close second place in Iowa, just behind Romney and ahead of Santorum, who?s climbed to third.
Responding to Gingrich?s jab last week that he suffers from a ?systemic avoidance of reality,? Paul said the proof that was wrong is in the resonance his campaign is having.
?Well that is a gross distortion, and you can spend a long time trying to dispute what he is saying,? Paul said. ?Why are the rallies going so well for me? Why are the crowds bigger and bigger??
Paul, who predicted he?d finish in the top two in Tuesday?s caucuses, all but dismissed the late momentum burst that?s put Santorum in third place in the polls. Unlike the people now saying they?ll vote for the former Pennsylvania senator after flirting with other front-runners, ?my supporters don?t shift their views,? Paul said. ?The other group, they have been shifting back and forth.?
The candidate?s son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, went further in swatting away Santorum, calling into question both his electability and conservative credentials.
?I think he has a lot of things to overcome. I mean, he was in his last election defeated by over 20 points. He was a big supporter of Arlen Specter against Pat Toomey. He?s really been a Big Government type of moderate,? the younger Paul said Sunday morning on CBS?s ?Face the Nation.? ?When he has the scrutiny, I think he?s going to have some of the same problems that some of the other fair-weather conservatives have had.?
Santorum was pushed on these questions himself in an appearance on ?Meet the Press,? as well as his support for Romney in the 2008 presidential race.
Santorum said his support then was for someone he felt could be a more conservative alternative to eventual GOP nominee John McCain and shouldn?t discount his own race against Romney now.
?Everybody ? has conservative values, vis-?-vis President Obama, and generally reflects the Republican Party,? Santorum said. ?The question is: Are those values the ones that you can trust when they become president of the United States??
Santorum said he didn?t have regrets about the earmarks he voted for himself while in the Senate ? a sticking point among some tea party voters ? but said he agreed the system is full of potential abuses.
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