Romney, McCain Lock Horns Over Shifts in Position

WASHINGTON — Faced with increasing criticism over his shifts in position on core Republican issues, Mitt Romney is trying to turn the tables on his opponents. The former Massachusetts governor said yesterday that while it's true he has changed his mind on issues like abortion, he is far from alone.

"I'd note that as I look at the other candidates who are running for president, over time they look at specific areas and say, 'Gosh, I was wrong on this. That needs to be adjusted,'" Mr. Romney said in an appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation."

He singled out Senator McCain of Arizona, who he said had shifted course on immigration, abortion, and his opposition to the Bush tax cuts.

Mr. McCain voted against the tax bill that President Bush signed in 2001, but he now supports making those cuts permanent, saying that otherwise it would result in a tax increase for many Americans. On abortion, Mr. Romney was referring to a 1999 quote from Mr. McCain in which he opposed the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The Arizona senator has said repeatedly that he misspoke then and often touts a consistent anti-abortion record. On immigration, Mr. McCain spearheaded the failed effort in the Senate earlier this year to pass a bill that would have provided a path to legalization for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants while mandating stronger border enforcement measures. Critics said the legislation amounted to amnesty, and Mr. McCain acknowledged yesterday that his support for the bill inflicted significant damage to his presidential hopes.

Conceding a shift in his stance, he said he had listened to Americans who have lost trust in the government and now supports an "enforcement first" approach that delays addressing the illegal immigrants currently residing in America. "They didn't believe us when we said we'd secure the borders," Mr. McCain said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." "I got the message. We're going to secure the borders."

Yet he also defended his recent attacks on Mr. Romney, saying that since he "basically has changed positions on every — on many issues, then I have to take exception to it."

"Look, you can't con the voters," Mr. McCain said. "If you want their respect, you've got to give them your respect."

Democrats snickered at the GOP infighting. "For once, we agree with both John McCain and Mitt Romney," a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, Damien LaVera, said. "They're both shifting their views on everything from tax cuts to immigration reform as they desperately try to claim the mantle of George Bush's Republican Party."

The separate interviews were broadcast yesterday before the GOP hopefuls met in the evening for a 90-minute debate in Orlando, Fla.

The spat between Messrs. Romney and McCain underscores the difficulty each of the top Republicans has had in establishing themselves as the party's conservative standard-bearer. And it comes as a former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, is making headway in his bid to rally evangelical Christians and force his way into the top tier of candidates.

Mr. Huckabee, a Baptist minister, was the crowd favorite this weekend at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, a convention attended by hundreds of politically active Christian conservatives. He won overwhelmingly a straw poll conducted at the event, garnering more than 50% of the vote among nine candidates, and he finished a close second to Mr. Romney in an online poll. Both of them trounced the other leading Republicans who appeared at the summit: Mr. McCain, Mayor Giuliani, and a former Tennessee senator, Fred Thompson.

Though he has struggled to raise money, Mr. Huckabee also finished second to Mr. Romney at the Iowa straw poll in August, and polls over the last month show him running second or third in the state where the crucial first votes are cast in January.

Appearing yesterday on "Fox News Sunday," Mr. Huckabee said what set him apart from his rivals was an undisputed consistency on social issues. "Nobody's going to find some YouTube moments of me saying something radically different than what I'm saying today," he said.