Republican Romney picks up negative endorsement
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has taken an editorial drubbing from a small New Hampshire newspaper, at a time when most newspapers close to the presidential race are handing out endorsements.
"Romney should not be the next president," blared the Concord Monitor of tiny New Hampshire state, where the third nominating contest for the 2008 US presidential race will take place on January 8.
The paper lambasted Romney for what it called the "stunning turnaround" of his political career, listing his pro- to anti-switches on gay rights, abortion, and stem-cell research.
"If a candidate is phony, we assure ourselves and the rest of the world, we'll know it. Mitt Romney is such a candidate," the Monitor said in an editorial Saturday.
In Iowa, meanwhile, Romney picked up a favorable endorsement from the Sioux City Journal, which was impressed by his "proven track record of success" in the private and public sectors, and called him "a man of decency and integrity."
Iowa holds the election year's very first nominating contest, on January 3.
The former Massachusetts governor is neck-and-neck in opinion polls for the Republican nomination with former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and ex Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
Romney and Huckabee are hoping to pull away in Iowa and New Hampshire next month, as polls give the dueling former governors the advantage in each state.
