Gingrich takes tougher tone in criticism of Romney

Repub­li­can pres­i­den­tial can­di­date for­mer House Speaker Newt Gin­grich looks to the audi­ence dur­ing an event at Belk­nap Mills, Wednes­day, Jan. 4, 2012, in Laco­nia, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

SHANNON McCAF­FREY

Asso­ci­ated Press

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — GOP pres­i­den­tial can­di­date Newt Gin­grich pum­meled front-running rival Mitt Rom­ney as “a mod­er­ate Mass­a­chu­setts Repub­li­can to the left of the vast major­ity” of their party, dis­play­ing a tough new tone in New Hamp­shire after a dis­ap­point­ing per­for­mance in Iowa’s caucuses.

Gin­grich launched a blis­ter­ing attack on Rom­ney in what is essen­tially the home turf of the for­mer Mass­a­chu­setts gov­er­nor, who owns a house here.

The for­mer House speaker said Rom­ney had run a Sen­ate race “to the left” of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and had trans­formed into a mod­er­ate to run for gov­er­nor. What’s more, Gin­grich said, Rom­ney was once an inde­pen­dent who repu­di­ated Reagan-Bush poli­cies and voted for “lib­eral” Paul Tsongas in his 1992 bid for the Demo­c­ra­tic pres­i­den­tial nomination.

And Gin­grich dis­puted the idea that Rom­ney is the most elec­table can­di­date in the GOP field, argu­ing that three out of four Repub­li­cans rejected him in Iowa.

“The fact is, Gov. Rom­ney has a very lim­ited appeal in a con­ser­v­a­tive party,” he said.

Gin­grich effec­tively broke a pledge to run a pos­i­tive cam­paign, although he didn’t see it that way. The for­mer House speaker con­tended that as long as he stuck to facts and accu­rately por­trayed Romney’s record — in recent days he has called Rom­ney a liar in regard to Gingrich’s own record — the strat­egy was not negative.

Gin­grich was bat­tered by a bar­rage of attack ads in Iowa that deflated his fron­trun­ner sta­tus. A num­ber of them were run by a polit­i­cal action com­mit­tee back­ing Romney.

Gin­grich is seek­ing to reboot his White House bid. He is cam­paign­ing in New Hamp­shire, which holds it pri­mary Jan.10, but has his eye on South Car­olina, the first South­ern pri­mary where evan­gel­i­cals and social con­ser­v­a­tives hold sway.

The pro-Gingrich super PAC Win­ning Our Future posted online a 2008 ad from John McCain’s pri­mary cam­paign high­light­ing Romney’s flip-flops on abor­tion and gun rights and on being a Republican.

McCain endorsed Rom­ney on Wednes­day in New Hamp­shire. But in 2008 they were rivals for the GOP nom­i­na­tion for pres­i­dent and the McCain camp pum­meled him for swap­ping positions.

“Mitt Romney’s flip-flops truly are mas­ter­pieces,” the ad concludes.

Gin­grich didn’t con­grat­u­late Rom­ney Tues­day night in Iowa and declined an oppor­tu­nity to do so Wednes­day in New Hampshire.

“I know that’s a rhetor­i­cal ques­tion,” Gin­grich told a reporter who asked why he hadn’t offered the tra­di­tional post­elec­tion con­grat­u­la­tions to the victor.

“I sus­pect it’s going to be a very lively cam­paign. I am delighted to be in New Hamp­shire to talk about big ideas, big solu­tions and a big con­trast,” he said.

Posted by AP News on Jan 4 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.