Presumably Team Romney’s plan to combat attacks over Bain Capital has always been to paint anyone raising the issue as a loony left-wing extremist.

However, the barrage has come earlier than expected, and from some unexpected opponents, including Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich.

That hasn’t stopped Romney’s backers from responding with their original plan. So tonight brought us some amazing moments. Who’d ever have thought you’d see Fox News’ Sean Hannity tell Perry he sounds “like something out of Occupy Wall Street”? Or Romney surrogate John Sununu dropping the “Socialist!” S-bomb on Newt? It happened, and you can see it here.

Benjy Sarlin has it right: “The big question now is how far Gingrich et al are willing to go before they decide they either can’t win or it isn’t worth damaging their standing with the party to continue lobbing bombs at the likely nominee.”

Our Evan McMorris-Santoro reports from South Carolina that the attack ads began airing as soon as the New Hampshire polls closed.