As Democrats cry foul, 'Moderate Mitt' rises in polls

Not long ago, Republican Mitt Romney's crowds on the campaign trail were mostly in the hundreds, he was fading in the polls and his calls to create jobs by limiting government's reach seemed overrun by his own missteps.

Then a new Mitt Romney emerged.

The U.S. presidential challenger outmaneuvered a subdued President Barack Obama in their first debate last week, has pulled even with - or ahead of - Obama in national polls, and has seen crowds of thousands of people turn out for him in Ohio this week.

On Wednesday, the campaign became a spat over how Romney got there - and whether his hints of moving to the political center on abortion, taxes and other issues reflected a truly Moderate Mitt or was a conservative's sleight of hand, aimed at snaring moderate voters in a tight race for the White House.

At issue was an interview in which Romney told the Des Moines Register newspaper that he had no plans for legislation to restrict abortion, one of the great dividing lines between conservatives and liberals in American politics.

The statement seemed to contrast with the staunch anti-abortion stance Romney had taken this year while trying to attract conservatives' votes during the battle for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney clarified his position on Wednesday. I've said time and again that I'm a pro-life candidate and I'll be a pro-life president, he told reporters. As Massachusetts governor he had supported keeping abortion legal but says he later changed his mind.

Obama's campaign and abortion-rights groups pounced.

They said it was the latest example of hypocrisy or truth-bending by Romney as he tries to carve into Obama's advantage among women voters and win what Reuters/Ipsos tracking polls show as a dead heat for middle-class voters with annual incomes of $50,000 to $100,000.

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