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Park City • Between the flag football and yoga, the skeet shooting and bobsled runs, a half dozen Republican presidential hopefuls made their pitch Friday to stand out in a crowded field of candidates and win over important political and financial supporters from Mitt Romney's deep-pocketed network.
Romney said there are between six and eight candidates in the GOP team of hopefuls who he believes share his views and could be president, but he anticipates being on the sidelines as the field is whittle down.
"Once we have a nominee, I anticipate campaigning for that nominee and raising money for them. Up until that point, I don't expect to become associated with any one candidate," Romney said. "They'll have a long process to battle it out and I see someone emerge and then I'll to to work for them."
With 16 hopefuls either declared or considering a bid for the Republican nomination, candidates are jockeying for crucial financial support from Team Romney could boost them from also-rans to contenders.
"This is a unique event where there are so many donors and bundlers and in one place that it's such a good opportunity," said Matt Rhoades, Romney's 2012 campaign manager.
Pugnacious New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for example, lashed out at Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul for his opposition to the reauthorization of the Patriot Act over concerns about National Security Agency surveillance.
Christie said the senators in the field are more popular because they don't do anything.
"You poll what's popular, you say it, and then you become popular. Is that who we really want to run the country?" Christie said. "If you want to know how little they know, look at what Rand Paul has done in the last two weeks, because he has made America weaker and more vulnerable and he has done it for his own personal political gain and he has done it to raise money."
Governors, in contrast, have to deliver results, he said, and are be accountable for their actions.
A Paul spokesman declined to respond to Christie's criticism.
Likewise, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sought to set himself above the field of "fighters and winners." The fighters, he said, are the senators in the mix — Paul, Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — who Walker said fight the good fight against President Barack Obama, but aren't winning.
The winners are the governors and ex-governors, such as Florida's Jeb Bush, Ohio's John Kasich and Christie, who have a record of achievement, but haven't fought the big issues on a national stage.
Walker painted himself as the best candidate because he has governed and fought off a recall effort backed by national groups.
"The American people," he said, "want someone who can fight and win."
Rubio, meantime, spoke of his appeal to the Latino vote — a bloc that a top Obama political adviser, David Axelrod, told the gathering Thursday night that Republicans have to win more of if they hope to recapture the White House.
Rubio, whose parents were born in Cuba, said Latino voters' concerns are generally aligned with those of the rest of the working class, and they want to hear that a candidate will fight for good jobs, good schools and a prosperous future.
Graham was even more direct on immigration and critical of Romney's stance during the 2012 campaign that he said hurt the candidate's chances.
"No one is going to vote for a party that is going to break up their family and deport their mother. Now I love Mitt, but that was his big mistake," Graham said. "Our nominee last time was as good a man as you'll ever find, but we're losing ground with young people and people of color."
Likewise, Kasich told the crowd that the party can't simply drive 12 million undocumented immigrants to the border and tell them to leave.
"If they've been good folks, they get to stay. They may have to pay a penalty," Kasich said. "Let's just tell the truth. … They're God-fearing, hardworking people in many cases. Let's just embrace them."
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton was also a favorite target of the candidates, who relished taking shots at the former secretary of state and first lady.
"If we can't beat her, who the hell are we going to beat? She's carried more bags than any politician should be able to carry," said Graham, adding that she would be a "third term for a failed presidency."
Kasich said it will take more than criticism to knock off the Clinton campaign.
"You think you're going to beat Hillary Clinton by destroying the Clintons? You've got to be kidding me," said Kasich. Instead, the Republicans need someone with a record of accomplishment — more specifically, himself.
Christie said that, if Republicans want to win in 2016, they need to "open up our chest" and show voters they have heart. If they can connect with voters' hearts, they can win their minds and win the election.
"If we own that, we'll own the White House in 2017," Christie said, "and if we don't, we'll be a party on the edge of irrelevance, because we will have lost three times in a row."
Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, who led Romney's transition planning in 2012, said the forum has showed the strength of the potential rivals who could face Clinton.
"It's a great turnout of candidates," Leavitt said, "and I think people generally are coming away thinking this is a stronger group than I understood it to be."
Romney said he has had no second thoughts about his decision not to try a third time to win the White House, leaving it to a younger, fresher candidate without the somewhat tarnished public image he was left with after 2012.
Rhoades said the event this week keeps Romney in the spotlight and shows he plans to be a player in the 2016 presidential race, acting as a top surrogate and fundraiser for the party's eventual nominee.
The real jockeying at the E2 Summit doesn't happen in the conference rooms where candidates address the larger gatherings, but in more personal side meetings throughout the event.
"I know a lot of various campaigns-to-be and campaigns are doing one-off meetings and a lot of decisions made by donors happen in those meetings," said Rhoades. "A lot of the folks who are in that room upstairs, it's not enough to hear Governor Christie or Senator Graham give a speech. They're going to want to hear from them one-on-one."
Twitter: @RobertGehrke