Politico...
Romney resists tea party lures at S.C. event
By Emily Schultheis
9/5/11 

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Asked by leading conservatives to join them in embracing hard-line conservative positions, Mitt Romney pushed back — and left them thinking about Rick Perry. 

The former Massachusetts governor’s more moderate stances are one of his main liabilities in the race for the Republican nomination — and here in this staunchly conservative state that hosts a key early primary. But pressed to give base-friendly answers on abortion, financial regulations and health care reform at Jim DeMint’s Palmetto Freedom Forum on Monday afternoon, Romney kept to his approach that seems more geared toward a general election against Barack Obama than winning over primary voters on ideology. 

When asked if he would support using an interpretation of the 14th Amendment to allow for a ban on abortion, Romney reiterated his support for overturning Roe v. Wade, but said using the 14th Amendment in that manner was not a good idea. 

“Could that happen in this country? Could there be circumstances? I think it’s reasonable that something of that nature might happen someday, but that’s not something I would precipitate,” he said. “I believe that we must be a nation of laws, and I believe in supporting the Constitution as I understand it, but I’m not looking to create a constitutional crisis.” 

He also called for the repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, but qualified his position by saying that not all provisions of the bill — and not all regulations — are bad. 

“It’s not that we don’t want any regulation. We don’t want to tell the world Republicans are against all regulation,” he said. “Regulation is necessary to make a free market work. But has to be updated, and modern.” 

DeMint also gave him a chance to respond to claims that the health care plan he signed in Massachusetts is similar to the national legislation passed last year. 

Romney jumped, saying debating Obama on health care would be one of his “best assets” in the campaign because he knows health care “better than most.” 

“The critical thing is this: we dealt with 8 percent [of the population in Massachusetts], he dealt with 100 percent,” he said. “It’s simply unconstitutional, it’s bad law, it’s bad medicine and it has got to be stopped.” 

More than just a chance to talk about conservative issues, the event was an open audition for DeMint, who’s likely to have significant sway in the South Carolina primary, and Rep. Steve King, who’s likely to have a similar impact on the Iowa caucuses, and joined DeMint in asking the candidates questions. Both have said they plan to endorse in the 2012 primary, but have yet to do so. 

Princeton professor Robert George joined them to grill the candidates on topics ranging from abortion and American exceptionalism to immigration and the value of unions — though a format that put each of the hopefuls on stage for 20-minutes at a time kept the candidates from directly engaging with each other. 

Romney had originally turned down the invitation to the forum, citing scheduling conflicts – a big snub to DeMint, who served as his South Carolina state director in 2008 — then abruptly announced that he would attend the event late last week as Rick Perry’s surge continued. 

However, Perry’s decision to fly home to Texas to deal with wildfires pre-empted what would have been the two leading candidates’ first event together, with ample opportunity to lock horns—candidates followed each other onto stage in alphabetical order, which would have put the Texas governor right before Romney. 

Read the rest of the story at Politico