Mitt Romney's Republican presidential rivals sought to slow his campaign momentum, blasting the former Massachusetts governor as too moderate ahead of a primary election he is heavily expected to win. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who came in a mere eight votes behind Romney in this week's Iowa caucuses, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul attacked Romney Thursday as a less-than-reliable conservative too timid to combat unemployment. “Don't settle for less than America needs,” said Santorum, the latest of Romney's rivals to surge in the polls as another candidate faded. Romney is the favorite choice of the Republican mainstream, which sees him as the candidate best suited to challenge President Barack Obama in the November election. The party mainstream believes Romney, with his executive experience as governor and businessman, will best resonate with voters nationally who are upset by America's slow economic recovery. Romney is all but certain to win the Jan. 10 primary election in New Hampshire, where voters tend to be more moderate and where he owns a holiday home. But Romney has been unable to grow past 25 percent in national opinion polls, as many Republican voters around the country find him insufficiently conservative on abortion, health care and other issues. Their beliefs create a natural opening for Santorum — a social conservative with strong views against abortion and gay marriage. He all but ignored his Republican rivals as he campaigned in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Instead, he criticized Obama as a “crony capitalist. He's a job killer.” His more conservative rivals fought to hold down Romney's vote totals in New Hampshire, then knock him off stride 11 days later in South Carolina, the first Southern primary of the year. “Gradually you are going to see we have a difference of opinion about which will be the last conservative standing,” Gingrich told reporters in New Hampshire.
