Romney and McCain focus firepower on New Hampshire

By Caren Bohan and Scott Malone

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, closing in on Mitt Romney's once-commanding lead in New Hampshire, arrived in the state on Friday and immediately shot back at his rival, who had spent much of the past two days here blasting McCain.

"Mitt Romney attacks when people are catching up with him," McCain said before boarding his "Straight-Talk Express" bus for six days of campaign events in the state that holds the nation's first nominating primary of the 2008 presidential election cycle.

"The people of New Hampshire do not respond favorably to negative campaigns," McCain said. "That is not what the people of New Hampshire want."

Romney, the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts, is virtually tied with McCain for first in New Hampshire as they compete in a seven-man field to be the Republican Party's nominee in the November 2008 presidential election.

McCain, who won the New Hampshire primary in 2000, arrived in the state after Romney wrapped up two days of campaigning at ski resorts, coffee shops and town-hall meetings.

The surge by McCain, whose campaign was seen as all-but-dead by pundits last summer, comes as Romney has lost his front-runner status in Iowa to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Next Thursday, Iowa begins the state-by-state battle to choose Democratic and Republican candidates.

Romney, who would be the first Mormon president if elected, has been viewed as a favorite for the Republican nomination because of his large campaign war chest and edge in early states.

With Huckabee now rising in Iowa, Romney is focusing on New Hampshire's January 8 primary contest as his best opportunity to win an early-voting state, said Thomas Whalen, a Boston University political scientist.