CENTENNIAL – Republican presidential candidates barnstormed Colorado on Monday in a dash for votes before tonight’s neighborhood caucus meetings.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney drew by far the biggest crowd, packing more than 3,000 people into a high school gym in suburban Denver.

Newt Gingrich swung into Colorado for the first time of his campaign, drawing about 200 supporters to a hotel ballroom. Later, he and Rick Santorum gave back-to-back speeches at an energy symposium at the Colorado School of Mines.

Romney and President Barack Obama, however, are acting like they will be facing each other in the November election.

At an evening rally, Romney never mentioned his GOP competition. Instead, he criticized Obama for the stimulus bill and stronger regulations on banks and financial firms that Obama passed.

“President Obama’s policies and plans didn’t put Americans back to work. They slowed down the recovery,” Romney said.

Democrats, too, took aim at Romney without mentioning the other candidates. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz ripped Romney’s assertion that he knows how to turn around the economy.

“The real story on his private-sector career is that during his time as a corporate raider, Romney lined his pockets by firing workers, shipping jobs overseas and forcing companies into bankruptcy,” she said.

Although Romney himself did not mention the other GOP candidates, he turned to allies to go on the attack against Santorum – a candidate he had all but ignored until last weekend.

Minnesota and Missouri also are holding votes today, and polls show Santorum doing well in today’s caucuses.

Romney enlisted former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to go after Santorum.

“Rick has been holding himself out as the perfect conservative, or the only conservative in the race. But if you look at his record, he’s not a perfect conservative by a long shot,” said Pawlenty, who dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Romney last year.

Pawlenty cited Santorum’s vote for numerous earmarks, including Alaska’s infamous “Bridge to Nowhere.”

Santorum, in turn, said Romney is the wrong guy to make the Republican case for repealing Obama’s health-care law because Romney adopted a similar law in Massachusetts.

Santorum told reporters Monday that if Romney is the GOP nominee, it’s “not going to be a pretty campaign.”

“The issue’s going to be about Mitt Romney’s credibility, not Barack Obama’s record,” he said.

Gingrich also took swipes at Romney, saying the GOP always loses when it nominates moderates.

“The elite media would love to talk us into nominating another moderate,” Gingrich said. “Just remember, their No. 1 interest is to re-elect Barack Obama.”

In a sign of Romney’s confidence in the Colorado results, he announced plans for a caucus-night rally in Denver.

Republican Ron Paul campaigned on the Front Range one day last week, but he has not returned to Colorado since then.

jhanel@durangoherald.com