Republican Mitt Romney will get an early start on the 2008 presidential race today when he rolls out television ads in New Hampshire and several other key states.

According to a transcript, the 60-second ad presents Romney as a masterly businessman who "rescued the Olympics" and "turned around a Democratic state."

"Every place that Mitt has gone, he has solved problems that people said were nearly impossible," Romney's wife, Ann Romney, says at the beginning of the spot.

In the ad, Romney emphasizes that he is a Washington outsider.

"This is not a time for more talk and dithering in Washington," Romney says. "It's a time for action."

The segment also includes tough-on-terrorism, fiscally conservative rhetoric.

Feedback, already

Romney's ad is already generating reaction.

A strategist affiliated with another Republican campaign questioned why Romney was running ads nearly a year before the primary, saying the ads didn't "bode well" for Romney's campaign.

Uncle Sam wants you!

The war of words between GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter continues.

Last week, Cullen criticized Shea-Porter's recent speech on the House floor, saying it undermined U.S. troops. Shea-Porter called on Cullen to retract his statement.

Yesterday, Cullen declined to do so. "If she's going to be against this war, she should have the courage of her convictions and vote to end funding," Cullen said.

He described last week's House debate on a resolution expressing congressional disapproval of President Bush's troop surge in Iraq as "shameful."

Shea-Porter hit back: "If Fergus Cullen has the courage of his convictions, he should go enlist, because they're having trouble meeting their quota. He's young, he's single and he's healthy. If he needs to know where the recruiters are, call me."

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