CONCORD, N.H. — Less than 12 hours after finishing in fourth place in the Iowa caucuses, Newt Gingrich opened a new, more aggressive chapter in his campaign, taking pointed shots at rivals Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, who both finished ahead of Gingrich. At one point, Gingrich hinted he would make Romney's personal wealth an issue, telling a reporter “I'm not rich.”
Speaking to reporters shortly after arriving in New Hampshire, Gingrich dismissed Romney’s razor-thin victory—the former Massachusetts governor ended the night with 25 percent of the vote and only eight more votes than Rick Santorum. “The fact is, three out of four Republicans rejected him,” Gingrich said.
When asked why he chose to congratulate Santorum and not Romney on his caucus success, the former House speaker said, “I find it amazing the news media continues to say [Romney’s] the most electable Republican when he can’t even break out of his own party.… The fact is, Gov. Romney in the end has a very limited appeal in conservative party.”
Later, in a campaign stop in Laconia, Gingrich’s kept up his attack – and it got personal. Asked by a local reporter if he would buy a home in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, where Romney has a summer home, Gingrich replied, “No, I can’t afford things like that, I’m not rich.” His wife, Callista, added a jab at Romney as well. “We have one home,” she demurred. The Romneys own two summer homes, including one in California.
But the Gingriches may have difficulty making the elitist rap stick against Romney, a former investment banker. Gingrich himself earned millions of dollars as a Washington consultant after he left Congress, trading on his influence as a former House speaker and a leader in the Republican Party. One of his fees – over $1.6 million from mortgage giant Freddie Mac over eight years – has been harshly criticized by his GOP rivals.
Gingrich also got negative attention in the spring when it was revealed that he had once charged $500,000 for items purchased at Tiffany & Co. He told CBS interviewer Bob Schieffer then, “I work very hard. We have a reasonably good income.”
At a town hall meeting in Laconia, Gingrich criticized Romney’s record as governor, saying, “There’s no evidence that he changed Massachusetts. He went in and created bigger government, more bureaucracy and was sort of a normal Massachusetts governor. … I didn’t realize he put Planned Parenthood in Romneycare until a week ago, and I was astounded that you would legislate the biggest abortion provider in the United States onto a state agency.”
Gingrich flew out of Iowa almost immediately after learning the results of the caucus, landing in Manchester, N.H., in the middle of the night. His comments to the press came just after Rep. Michele Bachmann announced she was suspending her campaign after finishing a disappointing sixth in the caucus.
Gingrich had kind words for the Minnesota congresswoman, calling her a “considerable talent” and a woman with “great courage.” But he also used the opportunity to take a swipe at another competitor.
“She did a great job in one of the debates pointing out how disastrously misinformed Ron Paul’s foreign policy is.” Gingrich said, pointedly bringing up the Texas congressman by name. “I thought she was superb in walking through the reality of terrorism at a time when Congressman Paul, I think, has a fantasy foreign policy that is enormously dangerous to American national security.”
Later, when asked to respond to Paul’s statement that he “chickened out” and got a deferment during the Vietnam War, Gingrich visibly bristled.
“First of all, what he just said has about the same amount of accuracy as the newsletters he says he never wrote,” the former speaker said of Paul. “This is a man who says wild and outrageous things with no facts and then later denies having said them, or wonders who wrote them because it couldn’t have been him, even if it was under his name and even if he advertised them.”
Gingrich said he had young children during the Vietnam War, was automatically exempt from service and that he never asked for a deferment. “I had two children during that period,” he said. “I never asked for a deferment because during the period, I was a father and it was automatic.”
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