US News

Mitt turns up heat in Perry race furor

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney kept up his attacks on rival Rick Perry, slamming as “offensive” the name that once adorned a rock outside the entrance of a hunting camp leased by the Texas governor’s family.

“I’ve followed it from afar,” Romney said on Sean Hannity’s radio show. “I think it’s offensive. I think most people think it’s offensive.”

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the 1,000-acre camp, which Perry’s father began leasing in the 1980s, had been called “Camp N—–head,” a name that preceded the family’s involvement with the camp.

Perry himself called it an “offensive name” and says he asked his father to spray paint over the name after he learned about it in the early 1980s. But the paper, citing sources, said the name remained long afterward.

Perry blasted the report as “incorrect, inconsistent, and anonymous,” although the paper said it stands by it.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney also spoke on the issue, the latest obstacle to hit Perry’s campaign. “All I would say is that it’s — the name is clearly offensive and, from what I’ve read . . . the governor [Perry] shares that opinion.”

Meanwhile, South Carolina announced that it is moving up its primary to Jan. 21, 10 days before Florida’s planned primary.

The move adds further compression to a calendar that will feature contests in Iowa and New Hampshire in early January, forcing campaigns to go through an expedited election gauntlet.