Mitt Romney ahead as New Hampshire votes

He’s the heir apparent. The presumptive nominee. So say the polls, at least – which still give Mitt Romney an average 20 point lead in the race to become the Republican presidential candidate.

Today should be a walk in the park for the former Massachussetts governor – as voters in his almost-home state of New Hampshire take part in the nation’s first primary election. Aside from his deep personal roots – the Granite state is natural territory for Romney – he built his organisation there and it suits his brand of secular, moderate conservative politics.

Slipping numbers

His right wing challengers, like Gingrich and Perry, are focussing on the next hurdle, in South Carolina in 11 days time: there is no real danger to Romney from them tonight. As for Jon Huntsman, who has pinned his entire hopes on New Hampshire, he is starting to gain ground, in what pundits have wittily termed “Huntsmomentum”. ABC’s Jonathan Karl tweeted excitedly “He might just be moving the market”. Huntsman, of course, is the only remaining non-Romney candidate who hasn’t taken a turn at the top of the polls.

Read Washington Correspondent Matt Frei's blog: Newt, Rick and Jon... you can't have it both ways

However Romney can’t rest easy. His numbers have been slipping sharply over the last week – and on this first-in-the-nation primary night, it’s the margin of victory that will count, and whether or not he can live up to expectations.

The Bain game

For the contest has taken a sudden, rather extraordinary turn, with Romney’s rivals uniting around a new, and potentially damaging line of attack. It is summed up by one four letter word – Bain – and Romney’s time as CEO of the private equity firm. Yes, that’s right. Right wing republicans like Gingrich and Perry are lining up to fire shots at corporate capitalism and Wall Street greed.

Nothing was spared. Nothing mattered but greed. ‘When Mitt Romney came to town’

“You have to ask the question, is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of people and then walk off with the money? ” Gingrich told supporters yesterday. It is statements like these which have earned him the nickname “Newt Chomsky” on one liberal blog.

Not that Newt has gone completely shy of capitalism, of course. In fact his biggest corporate backer, casino owner Sheldon Adelson, poured $5m into his campaign coffers last week. It’s all helped his wealthy group of supporters to fund a 27 minute film excoriating Mitt Romney’s business record, which will be unleased on the uwary voters of South Carolina in a series of 30 or 60 second ads.

Corporate villain

“When Mitt Romney Came to Town” is certainly an interesting watch. It could have been produced by Michael Moore, or the Occupy movement – with stories of layoffs and misery from a series of workers whose jobs were downsized by Bain. “Wall Street’s corporate leaders made billions of dollars,” declares the narrator.

“Their greed was only matched by their willingness to make millions in profits. Nothing was spared. Nothing mattered but greed. This film is about one such raider and his firm.”

Cue dark, forbidding shots of downtrodden workers cowering in doorways, gazing desolately into camera as they recount their shattered American dreams. Broken lives, people, these are broken lives! What’s more serious about this particular line of attack isn’t just that it has already proved quite damaging to Mitt since his 1994 Senate race against Ted Kennedy. It is the grain of truth in it: like the Swiftboat ad poking holes in John Kerry’s war record, it could prove Romney’s Achilles heel.

In the firing line

I like firing people who provide services to me. Mitt Romney

He is not exactly helping himself. That quip about knowing the fear of getting a pink slip not only felt inauthentic, coming from a billionaire – but prompted a pointed retort from Rick Perry, who suggested the only thing Romney was worried about was not having enough of them to hand out to redundant employees. And then, that line – “I like firing people who provide services to me…”

Who cares that Romney was talking about health insurance providers? He still looks like a Wall Street fat cat. Indeed the Perry campaign have even made the quote into a ring tone.

Destructive bloodbath?

So the GOP sniping is set to continue, all the way to the Palmetto state and beyond. It’s got many in the party worried: not least putative candidate Christine O Donnell, who tweeted this morning: “Destructive GOP blood bath is dangerously close to beyond repair. Please, voters, call for it to stop or Obama will win.”

But it is not looking that way. That pro-Gingrich super-PAC, Winning Our Future, is already throwing almost three and a half million bucks on advertising in South Carolina, while Romney’s supporters are splurging more than $2 million. Even Rick Perry’s being backed by the moneybags – his super PAC, the snappily named Make Us Great, has a million dollars to spend.

That “destructive GOP bloodbath” may continue for a while yet. If you’re watching television in Charleston this week, you have been warned.

Felicity Spector is the US politics expert for Channel 4 News. Follow her on Twitter @felicityspector