Rep. Guinta to endorse soon, says NH race ‘has tightened’

Republican Rep. Frank Guinta (N.H.) said Sunday that he expected to make an endorsement in the GOP presidential contest “later on this afternoon” and said polls showed the race “has tightened.”

Guinta, the last member of the New Hampshire Republican delegation to not back a candidate, said he had attended “the last two debates” to further study the candidates, but gave no indication of who would receive his support.

“I think we’ve got a field of good quality candidates,” he said during an interview on Fox News.

{mosads}Guinta said his primary motivation would be “nominating someone who can defeat President Obama” and that he was looking for a candidate with the “vibrancy” to take up the fight in the general election. 

The first-term lawmaker also noted that recent polls showed Romney losing ground. 

“It has tightened,” said Guinta. “Just 48 hours ago he [Romney] was at 39 percent and now he’s at 35 percent.”

“You do see in the overnight tracking polls and based on the debate this morning Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman really trying to vie for that last opportunity to pass Ron Paul and challenge Mitt Romney.”

He added that there were “still a lot of passionate voters” in the state who would be watching all of the candidates closely as they jockey to close in on Romney in the next 48 hours.

“Granite State voters are absolutely tuned into these debates, two very different debates,” he said. “Last night was more collegial; today there were sparks flying.”

Romney has already secured the endorsements of New Hampshire’s Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) and Rep. Charlie Bass (R).

Last week, Romney won the backing of his former rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who won the New Hampshire primary in 2000 and 2008 and is still popular in the state.

Romney, who served as governor of neighboring Massachusetts and owns a vacation home in New Hampshire, was expected to win the state by a large margin. However, a Suffolk University/News 7 two-day tracking poll released on Sunday showed him slipping from 39 percent to 35 percent, though well ahead of the rest of the field.

Romney also faced tough attacks from his GOP rivals in a Sunday morning Facebook/NBC News debate in Concord. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accused him of trading in “pious baloney,” while Huntsman said Romney was an example of the partisanship that divided Washington and alienated voters.