With former Gov. Mitt Romney ahead in the polls in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota turned up the heat on the front-runner before the candidates debate on Monday night.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Pawlenty hammered Romney for setting the stage for the federal health-care backed by President Barack Obama.
President Obama said that he designed Obamacare after Romneycare, and basically made it Obamneycare, said Pawlenty. We now have essentially the same features. The president's own words are that he patterned in large measure Obamacare after what happened in Massachusetts. What I don't understand is, they both continue to defend it. I took a different approach in Minnesota. We did market-based health care reforms trying to encourage consumers with good information to make good decisions and financial incentives in a marketplace. But I strongly oppose the individual mandate at any level.
Pawlenty also called for the repeal of the federal law and praised the constitutional challenge from more than 20 states and led by Florida.
I am one of the parties in the lawsuit in Florida trying to get it declared unconstitutional, said Pawlenty. I think it is a dramatic overreach by government forcing a consumer to buy a good or service because of a government edict or mandate. I think it is a dramatic overreach. I don't like that approach under Obamacare and I have been a strong critic of it. I think we should repeal Obamacare in its entirety.
Pawlenty will have his chance to continue this line of attack at 8 p.m. Monday when he and Romney will square off in a debate from New Hampshire which will be broadcast on CNN. While other candidates have sued to get into the debate, there are five other contenders for the Republican nomination taking part in it -- former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, businessman Herman Cain and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
Two polls unveiled this weekend show Romney is increasingly becoming the man to beat. In a national poll conducted by Gallup for USAToday, Romney led the pack with 24 percent while former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, who has yet to announce if she is running, took second with 16 percent. Cain took third with 9 percent followed by Paul with 7 percent, while Pawlenty and Santorum tied for fifth with 6 percent. Bachmann and Gingrich took 5 percent each while former Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico garnered 2 percent and former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah, who has also not formally announced a campaign, took 1 percent. The poll of 851 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents was taken between June 8-11 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
Romney is crushing the competition in New Hampshire, home of the pivotal first primary battle according to a new poll from the Boston Globe and the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. Romney took 41 percent while former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has yet to announce a bid, stood in second with 9 percent. Paul placed third with 6 percent followed by Palin with 5 percent, and Bachmann and Cain locked together at 4 percent each.
Four candidates -- Gingrich, Huntsman, Santorum and Pawlenty -- were all tied with 3 percent, while Johnson took less than one-half of 1 percent. The question of Republican voters was part of a poll of 954 New Hampshire residents taken from June 1-8 with a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
