Big endorsement: Romney picks up SC governor's aid

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Challenging Newt Gingrich's claim to South Carolina, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney charged into the state Friday with a key endorsement from the tea party-aligned governor, a packed campaign schedule and plans to start airing TV ads in the early primary state.

The show of force by Romney was a clear signal he intends to compete aggressively in a state that stymied him in 2008 and that Gingrich has made a cornerstone of his own campaign

While Romney was planting his flag in a Gingrich stronghold, the former House speaker from neighboring Georgia spent the day off the campaign trail, with a book-signing near Washington, D.C., and private family events in the capital city.

On Friday and in the previous night's debate, Romney steered clear of pointed attacks on Gingrich, entering the final sprint to the Jan. 3 leadoff Iowa caucuses with an air of confidence after a week of assailing Gingrich's leadership, judgment and temperament. That pivot suggested the Romney camp believes Gingrich's recent rise in opinion polls may have leveled off and Romney can campaign closer to his early stance as the all-but-inevitable nominee

The New Hampshire primary follows one week after Iowa, then comes South Carolina on Jan. 21. While Romney was still in Iowa on Friday, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced she was supporting him as the best Republican candidate to take on President Barack Obama in the battle for the White House next year.

Not that Friday was all smooth sailing for Romney.

After criticizing Gingrich for more than a week as an undisciplined loose cannon likely to be savaged by Democrats, Romney opened himself to similar complaints by saying he didn't understand Medicaid until he started working in government. One of the principal avenues of criticism against Romney is that he's spent his life wealthy and out-of-touch,

"You know, I have to admit. I didn't know all the differences between these things before I got into government," Romney said, referring to the federal-state health care program for the poor, at a campaign stop in Iowa.

Romney later told g reporters traveling with him to South Carolina that he understood the program but hadn't quite grasped how it was funded. He called his earlier comment a "self-deprecating understatement."

Meanwhile, he had no harsh words for Gingrich — seeming content to leave that to his fellow Republican rivals and a political action committee that supports Romney. They have gone after Gingrich aggressively since he claimed the lead in national and Iowa polls this month.

The closest Romney came Friday was a veiled reference to the former congressional leader and longtime Washington consultant.

"What concerns me is that we have in Washington, D.C., a class of people who spent their whole time in Washington," Romney said.

His introductory South Carolina TV spot is upbeat.

The ad cost is modest, just $65,000 on cable television this week and next. But it signals an effort to cut into Gingrich's South Carolina showing heading into the bigger Florida primary, set for Jan. 31.

Gingrich is still facing withering criticism from Texas Rep. Ron Paul and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Romney also hopes to slow Gingrich heading into New Hampshire, a must-win state for Romney who was governor in next-door Massachusetts. Romney, who has led comfortably in New Hampshire, began airing a new ad there featuring his conversations with New Englanders concerned about the economy.

Romney already had set aside campaign money to step up his South Carolina effort, although the focus will probably remain on advertising, not additional campaign staff.