Romney aims to firm up his image
Romney had the opposite challenge from McCain: proving that he can stick to his principles.

In the past year, Romney has switched his stances on same-sex marriage and abortion rights, which he advocated during his single term as governor of liberal Massachusetts during the 1990s.

He explained Thursday night that his positions had evolved sincerely over time and that he now firmly opposed abortion rights, a change that set even further apart Giuliani’s support for a woman’s right to an abortion.

Romney, meanwhile, got a chance to address concerns among some voters over his Mormon faith. Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, suggested that Romney had revealed himself as not being particularly religious because he has said his faith would not determine his decisions on important issues.

Romney said the question was not what faith a president observed, but whether that faith informed his belief in “American values.”

“The great values we share are American values,” he added.

Romney drew support from Brownback, a leading figure in the conservative evangelical Christian movement, who said: “We’ve had 40 or 50 years of trying to run faith out of the public square. ... This isn’t something that divides us.”

Actor, ex-speaker loom large
Beyond the challenge of being heard above their declared rivals, the candidates are also laboring to emerge from the shadows cast by two men who were not there, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia.

Neither man has said whether he will run, but Thompson has been speaking widely before conservatives and Republican groups in recent weeks. Friday night, he is scheduled to speak to a gathering of Republicans in nearby Orange County, one of the most conservative counties in the nation.

Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., an adviser to Thompson, said Thompson would almost certainly announce “in early summer” that he was running.

Gingrich, meanwhile, has kept a lower profile, but he has said he will decide whether to run by September.

The Quinnipiac poll illustrated the depth of Republicans’ desire for different candidates. Even though they are not yet running, Thompson polled third, at 14 percent, while Gingrich was tied with Romney, at 8 percent.

Against that background, the lesser-known candidates worked to get a hearing for their signature issues.

For Hunter and Tancredo, that was a crackdown on illegal immigration. Time and again, Hunter reminded voters of his role in the building of a wall on the Mexican border in Southern California, while Tancredo repeatedly urged the adoption of “secure  borders.”

For Huckabee and Thompson, the main argument was their readiness to take office as governors with long records of accomplishment.

For Gilmore, the goal was to reinforce his main campaign appeal as the only “true conservative” in the race. He said that, unlike some of his rivals, he had “remained consistent” to his conservative ideals and had never “flipflopped from one year to the next.”

Brownback sought to challenge Gilmore for that mantle, returning to core issues important to conservative religious voters, especially his opposition to same-sex marriage and all abortion.

Paul, meanwhile, used the opportunity to give a second airing to the traditional Libertarian principles he espoused as a candidate in 1988 on the Libertarian ticket. Alone among the candidates, he opposed issuance of identity cards to immigrants and called for abolition of the Internal Revenue Service.

MORE FROM ON THE TRAIL

On the Trail Section Front

‘Yes we did!’ Historic night in Harlem Great expectations await Michelle Obama Will Obamas get a Yankee labradoodle? Obama elected 44th president   Obama’s transformational moment   Images from a historic election night   Obama victory makes history   Images: World reacts to Obama’s victory   Barack Obama casts his vote   Slide show: America votes On the Trail Section Front   Add On the Trail headlines to your news reader: