Sen. John McCain and former governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts unveiled dueling web videos and attacked each other on the campaign trail as they returned to New Hampshire yesterday for the final push before Tuesday's primary.

Romney seemed to step up his attacks after coming in a disappointing second in Iowa. And McCain, whose New Hampshire campaign has surged in the last two weeks, bore the brunt of the criticism in radio ads, campaign mailers and critical press releases from his rivals and special-interest groups.

Democratic candidates took veiled swipes at each other on the campaign trail, but the only direct attack came from a special interest group that blasted Sen. Barack Obama's health care plan in a new radio ad.

The Romney campaign started the day tying up loose ends from Thursday, when a top McCain adviser accused Romney of orchestrating push-polling calls that appeared to target Romney this fall. Chuck Douglas, vice chairman of McCain's campaign in New Hampshire, said he "was speaking only for myself and not the McCain campaign, and I regret any confusion my remarks caused."

But Tom Rath, Romney's New Hampshire campaign chairman, called for Douglas's resignation.

"A half-hearted apology cannot undo these reckless comments," Rath said in a statement released by the campaign. "This election should be about issues and not baseless accusations, and I am calling on Senator McCain's New Hampshire vice chairman to immediately step down so we can all move forward."

McCain spokeswoman Crystal Benton said Douglas would not resign, and she referred a reporter to his apology, posted on the McCain website.

Arriving in New Hampshire Thursday night, McCain said staying positive on the campaign trail was the lesson learned from the Iowa caucus results.

"One, you can't buy an election in Iowa. And two, negative campaigns don't work," McCain said, taking a jab at Romney, who outspent his opponents and attacked them in negative ads but still came in second place.

McCain launched a new web video called "Leadership" that uses Romney's own words to undermine his comment on MSNBC that he has "actually been leading" during the 25 years that McCain has spent in the U.S. Senate.

"Mitt Romney, leading?" an announcer says. "He'd rather call lawyers . . . and bureaucrats."

"Well, if we want somebody who has a lot of experience in foreign policy, we can simply go to the State Department," Romney says in the ad, a clip from an appearance on Fox News's Hannity & Colmes last month.

"When it comes to leadership, John McCain doesn't have to call anyone," the announcer says.

Benton said the ad was not negative campaigning, but simply a response to attacks from the Romney campaign against McCain.

Romney unveiled his own ad yesterday, called "Twists," that starts off criticizing McCain for comparing President George W. Bush to former President Bill Clinton when McCain was running for president in 2000. But an announcer says McCain was wrong about Bush then and is wrong about Romney now.

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