>>>
you from new
hampshire
where we witnessed
mitt romney
becoming the first nonincumbent republican candidate to win the new
hampshire
primary after winning the
iowa caucuses
. he took the momentum in
south carolina
, where he is running into a bauz saw of attacks from some of his rivals. last night was about a big second-place finish by
ron paul
who says he is nipping at
romney
's heels. ron mott is with us from spartanburg. good evening.
>> reporter:
good evening to you.
south carolina
is not for the political faint of heart. the punches here can be hard and painful. all indications suggest we'll see a lot of blows delivered over the next ten days. round three,
south carolina
. where front-runner
mitt romney
landed today into an atmosphere saturated by bare-knuckle politics.
>>
when
mitt romney
came to town --
>> reporter:
his opponents are hitting him online in a 27-minute documentary and on the air with tv ads, including this attack from
newt gingrich
on abortion.
>>
what happened after
mitt romney
changed his position from pro abortion to pro-life? he governed pro abortion.
>> reporter:
while the group linked him to that 80 million excess,
gordon gekko
from "
wall street
."
>>
greed, for lack of a better word, is good.
>> reporter:
fellow republicans were throwing punches about
romney
's days running
bain capital
.
>>
i think companies like
bain capital
could have helped these companies if they truly were
venture capitalists
, but they're not. they're vulture capitalists.
>> reporter:
romney
responded to the criticism this morning on the "today" show.
>>
i think it's been vie,
class warfare
and something we expected to come from
president obama
, but we didn't expect that
newt gingrich
and
rick perry
would become the witnesses for his prosecution, if you will. i don't think it's helped them.
>> reporter:
it hasn't helped perry and gingrich in the polls much. both were distance finishers in iowa and new
hampshire
. nor did it help win favor with conservative heavyweights like
rush limbaugh
.
>>
i don't care what you think the attacks they mounted on
romney
are not defensible.
>> reporter:
the former speaker disagreed, almost cringing at the notion.
>>
i think the
american people
deserve to know things. i am prepared to have people be irritated on the right and on the left.
>> reporter:
texas congressman
ron paul
, second to
romney
in new
hampshire
stayed out of the
cross fire
.
>>
we thought we sent out a positive message out of iowa. i think we sent out a pretty positive message last night out of new
hampshire
. and i think
south carolina
is next on the list.
>> reporter:
jon huntsman
and
rick santorum
are stumping tonight in the palmetto state. both were critical on the attack on
bain capital
. nbc news and
bain capital
are partners and the
weather channel
.
>>
ron paul
supporters were fired up today.
“ ”