Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich attack but don't knock down Mitt Romney

AP Photo/Elise Amendola

UPDATED Jan. 8 at 12:28 a.m. ET

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich on Saturday night teamed up against rival and front-runner Mitt Romney, attacking the former Massachusetts governor for his record as a venture capitalist in an effort to curtail the notion that he will end up as the Republican nominee for president. But they left him largely untouched two days before the New Hampshire primary he is expected to win handily.

In a debate hosted by ABC News, Yahoo! and WMUR-TV, Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, stood by his argument that Romney's experience as head of Bain Capital doesn't equip him to be president, while the former House speaker cast Romney as a job slasher.

Santorum, who nearly tied Romney in the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday, has said on the campaign trail that the U.S. doesn't need a manager as president. When asked whether he was referring to his GOP rival, Santorum said, "Of course I was talking about Gov. Romney."

"Business experience doesn't necessarily match up with being commander in chief of this country," Santorum said, adding that the president can't direct members of Congress to take certain actions - he has to "lead and inspire."

Romney responded that "people who spend their life in Washington don't understand what happens in the real economy." Businesses leaders, he said, aren't successful because they're managers, but "pimarily because they're leaders."

Still, the damage Romney could suffer from the attacks may be minimal, given that they were fairly brief. Furthermore, his rivals were firing off criticism in all directions throughout the debate - not just Romney.

Gingrich, meanwhile, was questioned about a new video produced for a pro-Gingrich super PAC that depicts Romney as a corporate titan with little regard for blue-collar worker. The video tells the story of a company forced to close in 1995 after Bain took it over.

The former House speaker said he hasn't seen the film but said it reflects what was reported in the New York Times.

"It raises questions" about Romney's business record, he said.

While Gingrich said he agreed with Romney's high regard for business experience, he added, "I'm not really as enamored with the Wall Street mdoel where you can flip companies [and] have leveraged buyouts."

Both Santorum and Gingrich are hovering around 10 percent in the polls in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on January 10, while Romney holds a commanding lead. Given his strong lead, it's no surprise the former Massachusetts governor found himself on the defensive in the first of two debates the weekend before the primary.

Romney rattled off a list of companies that prospered under Bain's stewardship, including Staples and Sports Authority.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman also took aim at Romney, but he went after Romney's record as governor. Huntsman has bet his whole campaign on performing well in New Hampshire.

"Everybody up here has a record that ought to be scrutinzed," Huntsman said. "I served as a governor, Mitt served as a governor - that is probably more telling in terms of what I would do, what Mitt would do as president."

Huntsman boasted about delivering a flat tax in Utah and establishing it as the "most business friendly state in America."

[MsmCorrupt]

The Amercan people have lost their trust in the news media. The omission of information is a way of manipulating the news; in this case, the media is also manipulating the out come of an election. We (the American people) are aware of the fact that you have decided not to cover Ron Paul fairly. Just today, Jake Tapper (CBS news) stated the following: "he can't win," referring to Ron Paul. Why not just go one step further and choose a candidate for the American people? The game is rigged and you are fooling no one. The elitist in the media believe they know better than the American people do

[staythecurse]

What a glorious scene. The Knights of the Round Table in a cage, slinging feces at each other. With Prince John pawing through the bars, at Mitts, with his mitts. All that is missing is King George hugging Prince John and waving mischievously. And the whip snapping lion taming Disaster From Alaska, Failin' Palin.

And Now For Something Completely Different.....

[lilbear925]

None of these bozos know how to be President, so they satisfy themselves with trying to tear down the other candidates. They're all rich politicians trying to buy their way into a free airplane and a nice house in DC. I can't see voting for any of them.

[baileyccc]

The lying and the fighting are trademarks of republican politics. They are putting the nails in the coffin of this dead party.

[gghtfc]

Another "press-titute" who is drinking the koolaid Stephanis Condon

[Nikos_Retsos]

Here is my take on the Republican presidential candidates - concise and up to the point. 1) Romney: The filibustering persona of the evening. He obfuscated and didn't answer any question. He heaped praise on himself and scorn on Obama, while he threw every nut, bolt, and spin as an answer, but nothing substantive! Rapid firing of abstracts, and capricious obfuscating when pressed! 2) Santorum: Caught early as a lobbyist devising schemes to enrich himself, he spend the evening red faced and trying to redeem himself. 3) Gingrich: He spend the evening trying to ambush and trip others, and justify how he avoided the draft. 4) Perry: Clueless on everything. He just want to be president, but he doesn't even know why! 5) Stuntman: He had no direction or compass on how to make America better, and he waded carefully to give himself room to shift later - after tracing the polls. 6) Ron Paul: The statesman of the evening. Straight answers; up to the point; no spins, and no abstracts or obfuscating!

Grading the debate: On a 1 to 10 scale, I give the debate a grade 4! The ABC moderators just allowed Romney to make speeches rather than cut him off and press him to answer the questions directly - except as George Stephanopoulos finally did one time just to hit Romney's obfuscating wall! Mit Romney had a "One-size-fit-all" answer for every question! Except Ron Paul's answers, the answers of the others seemed to espouse the late British politician Stanley Baldwin strategy: "I would rather be an opportunist and float [rather] than go to the bottom with my principles around my neck!" Ron Paul gave us clearly his principles; the others, opportunists, just struggled to float! Nikos Retsos, retired professor

[pr_boxer]

Its now been confirmed, Santorum is as crazy as Ron Paul (unlike Paul he's straight), not quite as crooked as Gingrich, and slightly smarter than Perry.

[nancy_naive]

No way he's straight -- a lot of latency in that boy.

[nancy_naive]

Fair fight -- 2 quarter wits taking on a half wit.

[madonato]

All I can say is wow! You totally neglect to mention the person who is a strong second in the polls in New Hampshire and received the same amount of delegates in Iowa as Santorum and Gingrich. I would say there is a conspiracy, but then I would be labeled a nutty Paulbot.

You have an article on this site titled "Is Ron Paul in it to win it?" I think the better question is would the media and establishment ever allow Ron Paul to win?

[Evgenia_S]

This is a GOOD Ad about Romney:-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=UG3lVKFvzm0