Romney Takes Aim at Obama Again; Republican Candidate Steers Away From Recent Squabbles With Rivals on the Campaign Trail
HANOVER, N.H.--An increasingly confident Mitt Romney is looking beyond his Republican rivals and again focusing his attacks on President Barack Obama, using a three-day swing through New Hampshire to frame his candidacy as a choice between the president's "entitlement society" and the "merit society" Mr. Romney envisions.</br></br>In an interview late Wednesday, Mr. Romney reflected a new tone--a more biting version of his earlier rhetoric against the president--predicting Mr. Obama will resort to "a politics of envy and divisiveness and demonizing of business and business people that will shock" voters.</br></br>"A campaign of envy and class warfare, I think, will ultimately be unsuccessful, whether in the primary or in the general election," he said. "I can surely tell you that Republicans will not warm to a campaign that is attacking success."</br></br>In what amounts to his closing argument before voters decide early next month in Iowa and New Hampshire, the former Massachusetts governor is hoping to transcend the recent squabbles of the primary race and train his sights on a general election that he and his aides now believe is within reach.</br></br>Many Republicans remain ambivalent about Mr. Romney, and polls still show a tight national race. But Mr. Romney's position has improved in recent days as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has seen his support weaken in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.