CROSS WORDS MCCAIN GATHERS STEAM AFTER TESTY LIBRARY EXCHANGE DEBATE: MAJOR GOP CANDIDATES SPAR OVER LIBERAL LABEL AS ARIZONA SENATOR GETS TWO KEY ENDORSEMENTS.

Byline: Tony Castro

Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY -- Sen. John McCain solidified his front-runner status for the Republican nomination Wednesday, sparring with an aggressive Mitt Romney in a feisty debate at the Reagan Library and securing key bicoastal endorsements from Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In a debate dominated by attacks and counterattacks between McCain and chief rival Romney, McCain appeared to take the upper hand.

The Arizona senator launched an offensive against Romney's economic record as governor of Massachusetts, while Romney said McCain was out of the conservative mainstream.

McCain used the last debate before next week's Super Tuesday of primaries to reach out to the Republican Party's core conservative base, claiming the Reagan political mantle.

"I had the great honor of being inspired while I was in the prison camps of North Vietnam by the news of a governor and his wife who cared very much about those of us who were in captivity," he said, referring to President Ronald Reagan, when he was governor of California, and his wife, Nancy, who was in the audience Wednesday night.

"And when I came home, I was inspired by him, and I voted for him, and I supported him, and I was proud to be a ... foot soldier in the Reagan revolution."

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, said McCain twice voted against President Bush's tax cuts and pushed campaign-finance reforms that restricted fundraising and spending. The Republican establishment embraced the tax cuts and opposed the new campaign law, which many saw as more helpful to Democrats.

"Those views are outside the view of mainstream Republican thought," Romney said in the opening moments of the debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The forum came 24 hours after McCain won the Florida presidential primary despite criticism that he is too moderate on several issues dear to party loyalists.

McCain's campaign got a double-barreled boost in California with the high-profile endorsements just days before the Golden State and 21 others cast primary ballots.

"He is an American hero, and America could use some heroes in the White House," Giuliani said of McCain, who was with him when the former New York mayor withdrew from the race ahead of the debate Wednesday afternoon. "He is a man of honor and integrity, and you can underline both."

Schwarzenegger's team said the governor would announce his endorsement today at a news conference with McCain after the pair tour a Los Angeles-based solar energy company.

The debate played out against a backdrop of the sleek blue and white fuselage of Reagan's Air Force One, which loomed as large as the legacy of the late president who has become the leading Republican icon of the past.

Other candidates

With Giuliani dropping out of the race, McCain and Romney seized on the new dynamic to try to cast the race as a two-man contest, drawing a protest from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has struggled since his upset victory in Iowa.

"I want to make sure everybody understands: This isn't a two-man race," he said. "There's another guy, I would like to say, down here on the far right of the stage."

Rep. Ron Paul also struggled for attention during the 90-minute CNN debate.

In touching on issues sensitive to conservatives, who have been critical of his positions on immigration, the environment and campaign-finance regulation, McCain said he would no longer vote for his original immigration bill, which would have provided a clear path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

"We will secure the borders first when I am president of the United States," McCain said. "I know how to do that. I come from a border state, where we know about building walls, and vehicle barriers, and sensors, and all of the things necessary."

When Romney sought to portray McCain as being out of step with Republican conservative philosophy and a liberal because The New York Times endorsed him, McCain shot back:

"Let me note that I was endorsed by your two hometown newspapers who know you best, including the very conservative Boston Herald. And I guarantee you the Arizona Republic will be endorsing me, my friend."

Looking confident throughout the debate, McCain even showed his sense of humor when asked whether he sides with Schwarzenegger on tougher environmental standards or with the Bush administration.

"Well, there's some physical danger," he said, smiling and looking at Schwarzenegger, which drew laughter from the audience. "I have to agree with the governor.

"And I believe the states should decide to enormous degrees what happens within those states, including off their coasts. The people of California have decided they don't want oil drilling off their coasts ...

"I applaud the governor's efforts and that of other states in this region and other states across America to try to eliminate the greenhouse-gas emissions that are causing climate change."

Negative ads

McCain criticized Romney for his negative campaign ads against Huckabee and the extensive use of his personal fortune to support his candidacy.

About the only thing the two men could agree on was not blaming Bush for the country's economic conditions.

Skirting that issue, Romney instead chose to focus on what he did for the economy while governor of Massachusetts, leading debate co-host Anderson Cooper of CNN to ask:

"Are you running for governor or are you running for president?"

For McCain, the 71-year-old former Vietnam prisoner of war, his emergence as clear front-runner marks an extraordinary resurrection of his political fortunes from left-for-dead last May when the Republican campaign kicked off with the first debate at this very same location.

Veteran political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior scholar at the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California, said Giuliani's political collapse and McCain's quantum leap have dramatically changed the dynamics of the Republican race.

"Is this a hoot! About a month ago I thought there could be a brokered convention and, if there were a brokered convention, it would be on the Republican side," she said. "But now it is possible that if there were a brokered convention, it would be on the Democratic side."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

tony.castro(at)dailynews.com

818-713-3329

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) GOP presidential candidates, from left, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, John McCain and Mitt Romney debate Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

(2 -- color) John McCain accepts the endorsement of Rudy Giuliani after the former New York mayor bows out of the presidential race prior to Wednesday's debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

(3) John McCain takes notes as Mitt Romney, right, debates an issue Wednesday at the Reagan Library.

(4 -- color) JOHN McCAIN

(5 -- color) MITT ROMNEY

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer