Russia blames radiation for space probe failure

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 file photo the Zenit-2SB rocket with the Phobos-Ground probe blasts off from its launch pad at the Cosmodrome Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin said Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month. (AP Photo/Russian Roscosmos space agency, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 file photo the Zenit-2SB rocket with the Phobos-Ground probe blasts off from its launch pad at the Cosmodrome Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin said Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month. (AP Photo/Russian Roscosmos space agency, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2011 file photo distributed by Russian Roscosmos space agency technicians work on the Phobos-Ground probe at Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin said Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month. (AP Photo/Russian Roscosmos space agency, File)

MOSCOW (AP) ? The head of Russia's space agency said Tuesday that cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month, and suggested that a low-quality imported component may have been vulnerable to the radiation.

The unmanned probe was to have gone to the Mars moon of Phobos, taken soil samples and brought them back. But it became stuck in Earth orbit soon after its launch on Nov. 9. It fell out of orbit on Jan. 15, reportedly off the coast of Chile, but no fragments have been found.

The failure was a severe embarrassment to Russia, and space agency head Vladimir Popovkin initially suggested it could have been due to foreign sabotage.

But Russian news agencies on Tuesday quoted him as saying an investigation showed the probable cause was "localized influence of heavily radiated space particles."

Popovkin, speaking in the city of Voronezh where the report was presented to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, said two units of the Phobos-Ground probe's onboard computer system went into an energy-saving "restart" mode, apparently due to the radiation, while the craft was in its second orbital circuit.

It was not immediately clear why the units could not be brought out of that mode.

Popovkin was quoted as saying that some microchips used on the craft were imported and possibly of inadequate quality to resist radiation. He did not specify where the chips were manufactured.

Popovkin also said the craft's builder, Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin, should have taken into account the possibility of radiation interfering with the operation and said Lavochkin officials would face punishment for the oversight.

Russia's space program has suffered a series of notable failures in recent months, including the August crash of an unmanned ship that was to send supplies to the International Space Station. That crash forced the postponement of a manned launch to the ISS because the booster rocket that failed in the crash was similar to the ones used in manned missions.

On Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported that a manned launch to the ISS that had been scheduled for March 30 will be postponed for about 45 days because tests of the capsule showed flaws in its hermetic seals.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-01-31-EU-Russia-Falling-Spacecraft/id-f84b25481f8144f39e3525bf787b22b4

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Medical lab does first-rate research in second-rate facilities

The longtime researchers like to tell the stories. The raccoon that fell through the lab roof. The buckets put out to collect rain from leaky roofs. The fire ? and lack of sprinklers.

Scientists at Los Angeles' venerable Biomedical Research Institute, a cutting-edge hub of medical invention housed for 60 years in World War II military barracks near Torrance, have grown accustomed to trailblazing through peeling paint, slanted floors, rickety stairs and exposed telephone wires.

The decidedly backward facilities stand in sharp contrast to the center's medical breakthroughs and research, rivaling forward-leaning institutions across the nation.

The center's work ? much of it funded by the National Institutes of Health ? has led to the development of the modern cholesterol test, the newborn thyroid deficiency exam and eyedrops to prevent blindness in children. Investigators also created the paramedic model for emergency care and helped pave the way for in-vitro fertilization.

"The only difference between us and everybody else is that we are doing it in buildings that were promised to be torn down in 1946," said David Meyer, the center's president.

Last year, LA BioMed, as the center is known, finally began replacing some of the old Army structures with an up-to-date building. And now, Meyer said the nonprofit institution is raising funds and negotiating $30 million in county bonds to again create something new: a fully modern research facility.

Researchers say modernizing the campus, which is next to and works closely with county-operated Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, will make it easier to attract top talent and help remedy possible hazards.

A small lake ? complete with frogs ? formed outside his aging lab during storms, recalled John Michael Criley, a professor emeritus at UCLA who has been at LA BioMed for 45 years. He had to build a makeshift bridge to cross it. "It was like being in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,'" he said.

The outmoded facilities did have some advantages, he said. They were cheap and there was plenty of room. "If we needed more space, we could knock out a wall with a hammer and a saw," said Criley, a cardiologist who helped create paramedic medicine.

The campus spans more than 30 acres, a sprawling maze of old wooden bungalows and newer concrete-and-steel buildings. Cars are parked at all angles around the odd enclave of labs and research spaces scattered between patches of grass and trees.

French researcher Fawzia Bardag-Gorce said her jaw dropped when she arrived at the center in 1999. "I was shocked," she said. She adapted and now, inside one of the old barracks, Bardag-Gorce and her team are using high-tech equipment to create replacement corneas using cells from inside people's cheeks.

Outside of the bungalows, feral cats sip from bowls in the parking lot. And in nearby buildings, scientists are researching drugs to vaccinate against hospital-acquired infections and to alleviate the pain associated with sickle cell disease, among hundreds of other projects.

Across campus, construction crews are working on a $10-million federally funded building that will house a chronic disease research center.

The Army opened the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation Hospital in 1943 to treat soldiers shipping out to World War II. After the war ended, Los Angeles County bought the hospital and opened it in 1946. It became UCLA's first teaching hospital.

In 1952, several doctors started a research organization that would later become LA BioMed. The current Harbor-UCLA Medical Center opened in 1963, and the vacant barracks were turned into more research space.

William French, a Harbor-UCLA cardiologist, started at LA BioMed in 1975. The wooden floors in his old work space couldn't support newer, heavier equipment, so he had to stick with antiquated machines. "It was pretty bad ? but we made do," he said.

French, who has since moved to a newer building, said he stayed with the center because of his colleagues ? about 150 altogether ? and the research opportunities.

John Edwards, a UCLA medical school professor and head of infectious diseases at the hospital, said the conditions and the long hours he and other young scientists worked helped breed a strong camaraderie. "That created a trench-like work atmosphere," he said. He worked in a bungalow, E-5, for many years before moving to another building on campus, where he conducts research on hospital-acquired infections.

More than most, Edwards appreciates the campus' history. His father, a Navy admiral, was treated at the old hospital at the end of WWII. Recently, the deteriorating condition of the research buildings has made it more difficult to hire and retain scientists, he said. "Most of the younger investigators we'd like to recruit have never seen facilities like these," he said.

The barracks "served us well, but no longer," he said. "Their day is over."

anna.gorman@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/67uZW2UI3Ss/la-me-biomed-20120130,0,7798614.story

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Terry scores 34, Mavs beat Spurs 101-100 in OT

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) looks to shoot as San Antonio Spurs forward DeJuan Blair (45) watches during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) looks to shoot as San Antonio Spurs forward DeJuan Blair (45) watches during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Dallas Mavericks guard Vince Carter (25) shoots against San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry (31) shoots against San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner (15) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan (21) dribbles against Dallas Mavericks center Ian Mahinmi (28) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

San Antonio Spurs forward Richard Jefferson (24) and Dallas Mavericks guard Vince Carter (25) greet each other after an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Mavericks won 101-100. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

DALLAS (AP) ? Jason Terry was more than willing to take the big shots, with Dirk Nowitzki just getting back into the Dallas Mavericks' lineup. Terry made them when they mattered, too.

Terry scored the last four points in overtime, after hitting a tying 15-footer with a half-second remaining in regulation, and the Mavericks came back after blowing a big lead against San Antonio's reserves to beat the Spurs 101-100 Sunday night.

"He put us on his shoulders there," said Nowitzki, who played for the first time after a four-game hiatus to strengthen his sore right knee and do some conditioning work. "He made some great pull-ups. He got to his sweet spot to send it to OT."

Terry put Dallas ahead to stay when he took a pass from Nowitzki and made a 12-foot baseline jumper with 42 seconds left to make it 99-98. After Shawn Marion stole the ball from Gary Neal, Terry got fouled and made both free throws with 17 seconds left.

"It's just the will to win when the game is on the line," Terry said. "I like to take the shot when the game is on the line. ... When my team needs me the most, I'm going to come through regardless of what's going on the entire night. Fourth quarter is winning time."

Terry scored 26 of his season-high 34 points after halftime, though the Spurs still had a chance after his last two free throws.

Neal, who finished with 19 points, drove for a layup and was fouled by Marion with 12 seconds left. But Neal missed a potential tying free throw that was rebounded by Ian Mahinmi, who was fouled and missed two free throw attempts.

After Neal got that rebound and the Spurs called timeout, Vince Carter knocked the ball loose. Danny Green grabbed it and threw up a 3-pointer that ricocheted off the front of the rim as the game ended.

Green and the Spurs thought he had a game-winner at the end of regulation, but his 14-footer was disallowed when replay clearly showed that shot didn't get out of his hands before the buzzer sounded.

"I thought it was good, but I guess it was too good to be true," Green said.

Dallas led by as many as 18 points in the third quarter before San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich decided to go with his reserves. The Spurs' last 51 points after that came from bench players, and they went ahead by as many as nine in the fourth quarter with the help of a flurry of 3-pointers.

"We were just on fire shooting 3s and it got us back in the game. It's as simple as that. I thought the energy defensively was great; we double-teamed everywhere," Popovich said. "They were playing great. There's no sense in taking them off the court."

The last Spurs starter to score was Richard Jefferson on a 3-pointer with 4:28 left in the third quarter. When Jefferson came out less than 2 minutes later, the only starter to re-enter the game was Kawhi Leonard for 1.1 seconds in overtime.

Terry's tying shot at the end of regulation was set up after Rodrigue Beaubois, starting for injured Jason Kidd, drove for a layup with 30 seconds left and then blocked a shot on a drive by Neal. Nowitzki grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Terry.

San Antonio still had a chance to win the game. Green swished his jumper off the inbound pass, but officials looked at the replay before ruling it didn't count and sending the game to overtime.

"We got a little lucky there," Nowitzki said. "I thought it was over."

Carter had 21 points, his most with the Mavericks, while Beaubois had 14. Nowitzki had 10 points on 5-of-14 shooting with 13 rebounds.

"I'm moving better," Nowitzki said. "Definitely that was an improvement from before. I'm going to keep working and get back to normal soon."

Richard Jefferson, Tim Duncan and Green each had 12 points for the Spurs.

Dallas (13-8) took over the Southwest Division lead, ahead of Houston (12-8) and the Spurs (12-9).

The Mavericks had a 67-49 lead after Terry's basket with 3:48 left in the third quarter. That's when San Antonio's reserves took over.

There were seven consecutive points to cut the gap, that capped by Matt Bonner's 3-pointer that helped ignite a frenzy of 3-pointers.

San Antonio opened the fourth quarter with a 17-2 surge that included five 3-pointers. Bonner's trey from the right wing with 8:24 left in regulation put the Spurs up 75-71.

That was from about the same spot that Green had hit before a missed shot by Nowitzki.

San Antonio, which made seven 3s in the fourth quarter, led 84-75 with 5? minutes left when Neal stole the ball from Terry and had a fast-break jumper. It was still 89-81 only 2 minutes later when Neal made a 3-pointer.

"We were unable to capitalize on it," Neal said. "They were able to make shots and forced it into overtime."

Notes: Kidd has a right calf strain, and is expected to miss at least five games. ... San Antonio finished with 12 3s, which was four less than they made when the teams first played 3? weeks ago when the Spurs won 93-72 at home. ... Manu Ginobili (broken left hand) missed his 16th consecutive game for the Spurs, while T.J. Ford (torn left hamstring) has missed 11 in a row. ... When former Mavericks owner Don Carter and his wife were showing on the video board during a timeout in the first quarter, both flashed their 2011 NBA championship rings. ... Brendan Haywood had a season-high five blocked shots for Dallas.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-29-BKN-Spurs-Mavericks/id-30ef0510b8ec400fbcab15a1d09f0a98

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96% The Muppets

All Critics (168) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (161) | Rotten (6)

It may not entirely work as a movie, but The Muppets shines as a piece of touching pop nostalgia.

The purity of the nostalgia turns this franchise film into a love letter to childhood.

You can rest easy - if you have previously loved the Muppets, you will likely currently love The Muppets.

The chorus of one of the songs declares, 'I've got everything that I need, right in front of me.' For 120 minutes, that's precisely how I felt.

[Filmmakers] hew close to the essential innocence informing the Muppets' silliness.

The Muppets is a triumph of simplicity, innocence and goofy jokes. It's a triumph of felt.

Brushing aside decades of nostalgia, this is a whip-smart postmodern romp with a warm heart to boot, and as such, it should please both life-long fans and new initiates to the Muppet universe.

invites viewers to become a bit like the dreamer Walter and, in (re)discovering and embracing their inner child (not to mention their inner muppet), to join a fantastic, funny family that never grows old, no matter how times may have changed.

The innocence is slightly twisted, the harmonious camaraderie is slightly corrosive and the characters are slightly eccentric

I smiled throughout this madcap joyous adventure in which the Muppets are funny, silly, colourful and totally endearing in what must be the happiest film of the New Year

MY inner child - the one who loved The Muppet Show, The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper - really wants to give this film five stars.

By focusing on the Muppets of The Muppet Show (1976-1981) rather than the independent Muppets of prior films, the writers open up an unexplored aspect of Muppet lore ripe for revival.

A nice throwback to the good old days of the Muppets.

Under James Bobin's direction, however, the outing feels cheap and strangely small-screen.

An altogether charming, smart and strangely moving little movie.

The Muppets may be one of the best films of the year, not judged as a children's film, or a family film, but instead, simply as a film.

The Muppets is really two movies. And one of those movies is quite good, albeit awfully similar to previous films.

Even balcony critics Waldorf and Statler would have a hard time faulting this Wonkaful delight.

I am a fan of The Muppets and I'm glad to see them making a comeback. Maybe if this movie is a hit, they'll make a sequel where they'll actually get to be the stars of their own film.

A good imitation of the Muppet style.

The Muppets is a celebration of all things Muppets -- filled with fun, laughter and moments of pure joy.

The Muppets heralds the return of Jim Henson's beloved furry creations, resurrected from pop-culture irrelevance and lovingly restored to their former greatness in a vibrant comedy-musical.

The film's success is owed to the fact that the living, breathing actors understand the show belongs to the Muppets. In their capable paws, claws, and flippers, the fun, kindness, and total, unadulterated wackiness of The Muppet Show is finally back.

The Muppets is a joyful mix of the nostalgic past and a vibrant present. It tops the list of family movies for the holidays. The movie asks the question, "Do you have what it takes to be one of the Muppets?" Of course, we do.

More Critic Reviews

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_muppets/

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Facing long odds and steep climb, Santorum digs in (AP)

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. ? Newt Gingrich has the momentum. Mitt Romney has the money.

Rick Santorum? He has neither at the moment.

Not that he's going to let details like that stop him from pressing ahead in his White House quest. Or, for that matter, hurdles like scant cash in an expensive state and a rapidly disappearing opportunity to emerge as the consensus candidate of conservative voters now that Gingrich has emerged as the leading anti-Romney candidate.

"Our feeling is that this is a three-person race," Santorum insisted on CNN's "State of the Union." He added that he felt "absolutely no pressure at all" to abandon his bid given Gingrich's rise.

Still, Santorum acknowledged a hard road ahead in what he called "a tough state for everybody."

"It's very, very expensive. It's a very short time frame," he said.

The former Pennsylvania senator placed third in Saturday's South Carolina primary.

Gingrich scored his first win, entering the Florida campaign with the political winds pushing the former House speaker from behind. Romney, who has raised mounds of cash, came in second and was ready to regroup with sophisticated political machines in the upcoming states, Florida included.

Underscoring Santorum's challenges, he was taking a few days away from the campaign trail in Florida this week to restock his thin campaign bank accounts. He plans fundraisers in other states, leaving Gingrich and Romney with free rein in Florida, while he stops in states such as Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. Money is a necessity in a state like Florida with numerous expensive media markets and where campaigns are usually won on TV.

That's not a natural fit for Santorum, who has run his campaign on a shoestring and won the Iowa caucuses ? albeit narrowly ? by spending more than a year making house calls to voters and traveling the state in a pickup truck.

To make up ground and perhaps earn some free media, Santorum is going on the attack.

Standing in a strip mall's parking lot here Sunday before heading to fundraising events, Santorum cast Romney as an inconsistent figure who would not be an effective foil to President Barack Obama's re-election bid and argued that Gingrich was too "high risk" to be the Republican standard-bearer.

"Trust is a big issue in this election," Santorum told several hundred people. "Who are you going to trust when the pressure is on, when we're in that debate? It's great to be glib, but it's better to be principled."

He also met privately Sunday with pastors and delivered a sermon at Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, where he emphasized his conservatism. Santorum, who sprinkles his campaign speeches with his Catholic faith, is banking on evangelicals to coalesce around him over the thrice-married Gingrich or Romney, a Mormon.

"Can he win? Only God knows," said David Babbin, a voter here who works at the nearby children's hospital and likes Santorum. "But I believe in miracles."

Still, he noted one of the candidate's challenges: "Rick Santorum is one of us. And that's his biggest flaw ... We live in a society that is `American Idol' and Rick Santorum is not like that."

Santorum has other hurdles beyond what even admirers call his lack of charisma.

His tough talk on Social Security and Medicare ? ending benefits for wealthier retirees, cutting payments to those who don't need them ? is going to dog him here in a state of 3.3 million seniors, or 17 percent of the population. AARP estimates that more than a third of those seniors would have incomes below the poverty line without Social Security and one in three seniors rely on Social Security as their sole source of income.

Santorum didn't mention those proposals at his first public campaign event since the primary in South Carolina.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_el_pr/us_santorum

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Rising costs push Kimberly-Clark 4Q profit lower (AP)

DALLAS ? Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Kleenex tissues, Huggies diapers and other household goods, is still waging a battle against rising costs that pushed its fourth-quarter profit down 19 percent.

The company also offered a 2012 adjusted earnings forecast below Wall Street's expectations. Its shares fell $1.62, or 2.2 percent, to $71.90 in premarket trading on Tuesday.

Like many companies, Kimberly-Clark is struggling with higher costs for oil, wood, pulp and other materials that it needs to make and transport its products. It raised prices on certain products to help offset some of the expense, but must tread cautiously with price hikes to avoid turning off budget-minded shoppers.

The Dallas-based company continues to face soft demand in North America, as high unemployment and uncertain economic conditions keep many consumers focused on buying basic products on an as-needed basis.

Kimberly-Clark said Tuesday that it earned $401 million, or $1.01 per share, in the fourth quarter. That compares with profit of $492 million, or $1.20 per share, a year ago.

Excluding restructuring costs in its pulp and tissues segment, adjusted earnings were $1.28 per share, which fell short of the $1.30 per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet expected.

Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 climbed 2 percent to $5.18 billion from $5.08 billion on higher prices and sales volumes, but missed Wall Street's $5.21 billion estimate.

Sales of personal care items fell approximately 5 percent in North America in the quarter. While Kimberly-Clark raised prices on infant and child care goods, it was not enough to overcome increased promotions.

Total sales for the personal care division edged up 2 percent to $2.2 billion. Consumer tissue segment sales were essentially flat at $1.7 billion, while the health care unit's sales rose 10 percent to about $420 million, partly on sales of exam gloves and surgical products.

Kimberly-Clark said its quarterly tax rate was 29.6 percent compared with 26.7 percent in the prior-year period. Excluding the pulp and tissue restructuring actions, the tax rate was 29.2 percent.

Full-year earnings declined 14 percent to $1.59 billion, or $3.99 per share, compared with earnings of $1.84 billion, or $4.45 per share, in the previous year.

Adjusted earnings were $4.80 per share.

"Reflecting on the full year, bottom-line results were somewhat below our original goal for the year, mostly due to higher-than-expected cost inflation and soft demand in portions of the developed markets," Chairman and CEO Thomas Falk said in a statement.

Revenue for 2011 increased 6 percent to $20.85 billion from $19.75 billion.

Looking ahead, Kimberly-Clark anticipates 2012 adjusted earnings between $5 and $5.15 per share, below the analysts' average forecast earnings of $5.23 per share for the year.

Annual revenue is expected to be flat to up 1 percent, which would imply revenue of about $20.85 billion to $21.26 billion. Wall Street forecast revenue of $21.22 billion.

Falk cautioned that economic conditions will likely remain challenging this year in the near term, specifically in developed markets. While commodity costs are expected to be a lesser concern, Kimberly-Clark anticipates foreign currency exchange rates will continue to be volatile.

The company also said it expects to raise its dividend at a mid-single digit rate, effective in April.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_kimberly_clark

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Romney loses South Carolina to Gingrich (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told supporters Saturday he's going to compete for every vote in every state after former House speaker Newt Gingrich beat him in the South Carolina primary.

"Our campaign has fought very hard here in South Carolina and in the coming weeks and months, I'll keep fighting for every single vote," the former Massachusetts governor told supporters at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds, only mentioning Gingrich by name to congratulate him. "I will compete in every single state."

Romney wasted no time jabbing first at President Barack Obama for a lacking business or management experience, and then at Gingrich: "Our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business and never led a state."

Romney said Obama has attacked free enterprise and that "we cannot defeat that president with a candidate who has joined that very assault on free enterprise." Gingrich has attacked Romney's record running Bain Capital, a private equity firm.

The loss dampens Romney's momentum heading into Florida ? the state that crushed his presidential hopes four years ago when he lost to John McCain and immediately dropped out of the race.

Romney came to South Carolina riding high on what were then twin wins in Iowa and New Hampshire. Gingrich finished far behind him in both contests. But Romney's narrow Iowa victory was revoked this week, and questions about his refusal to release his tax returns before April have dogged him day after day. He slid in polls in the last days going into the primary and ultimately lost to the former House speaker.

"We've still got a long way to go and a lot of work to do and tomorrow we're going to move on to Florida," Romney said Saturday.

It's a dramatic reversal of fortune for a campaign that just 10 days ago was hoping to perform well here, go on to win Florida and wrap up the nomination fight quickly. Instead, he spent the week ahead of the primary trying to fight off the surging Gingrich, who repeatedly called on the multimillionaire Romney to release his tax returns. Gingrich has attacked Romney as a "Massachusetts moderate."

In recent days, Romney has jumped from topic to topic as he has struggled to attack Gingrich. His surrogates have labeled Gingrich an "unreliable leader," while Romney has called on the former House speaker to release documents related to an ethics inquiry from the 1990s. On Saturday he shifted back to an attack he'd used in earlier debates, calling on Gingrich to further explain his ties to Freddie Mac. Gingrich was a consultant for the quasi-government mortgage agency over a period of eight years.

Romney still has significant advantages over his three remaining Republican rivals, including an enormous financial edge and a well-organized campaign. In next-up Florida, he's been organizing supporters for months and has particularly focused on absentee voters. Hundreds of thousands of voters have already sent in their ballots in Florida's primary.

Still, this primary season has been characterized by late-deciding voters. A majority of South Carolina Republican voters said they decided on a candidate in the last few days, and they favored Gingrich by a double-digit margin, according to exit polls. Romney had a small edge among those who said they made up their minds in December or earlier.

While they were confident early on, Romney's team was bracing for defeat by the end of the week. On Saturday, Romney said he would attend a debate Monday in Tampa, Fla., and his campaign confirmed he would be at one Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla., ahead of the state's primary Jan. 31. Romney did not confirm the appearances until the last minute, and they were an acknowledgment that the former Massachusetts governor would have to continue the battle with Gingrich longer than expected.

Romney plans to appear Fox News Sunday on Sunday morning ahead of a campaign rally in Daytona Beach, Fla. On Monday, Romney will campaign in the Tampa Bay area before the presidential debate.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney

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