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DOVER, NH –- As the nominating process continues and poll numbers remain in flux, Newt Gingrich is backing away from his positive-only campaign for president in an attempt to capture the Republican nomination before it’s too late.
“I was going to stay totally positive and the truth is, I did OK [in Iowa] considering the weight of advertising against me,” Gingrich told one of his largest crowds on the campaign trail Sunday evening in Derry. “Now, my conclusion has been to draw a much sharper contrast.”
The former House speaker, who finished fourth in last week's Iowa contest, was constantly attacked on the airwaves and in mailboxes throughout the Hawkeye State by GOP rival Mitt Romney and a pro-Romney Super PAC (plus by Ron Paul and Rick Perry to a lesser extent). But Gingrich, who in the past has been criticized for his lack of discipline, never hit back in any type of paid advertisements.
“I didn’t want to get into a dance where Romney would put up ad No. 1, I would answer it and they would put up ad No. 2, and I would answer it,” Gingrich told his audience at Pinkerton Academy. “And since he has vastly more money than I do, I would end up consistently using up all of my money telling you what’s wrong with those ads.”
But Gingrich, as well as a pro-Gingrich Super PAC, are going on the offensive now just days before the New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida primaries.
On Sunday night, Winning Our Future -- that Super PAC -- released a nearly three-minute trailer of its 27-minute film hitting Romney for being a “raider” while working for Bain Capital.
“Think you know Mitt? Think again,” the trailer for ‘When Romney Came to Town’ says. “For tens of thousands of Americans, the suffering began when Mitt Romney came to town.”
Winning Our Future is expected to spend $3.4 million in South Carolina focusing on Bain.
Gingrich promised to “disown” any Super PAC that attacked his rivals on his behalf numerous times while campaigning in Iowa, but the former speaker says things have changed.
“Well, it turns out that there are some things when you describe them, they are negative. If you accurately describe some things that are negative, it’s pretty hard to draw a distinction there in terms of accuracy,” Gingrich said at a house party Monday morning.
The campaign itself has even started launching “contrast” attacks at the supposed front-runner for the nomination.
“This is not my first preference on how to run the campaign. As you know, I was having a great time being totally positive, talking about big ideas and big solutions and I would be glad to go back to that,” Gingrich acknowledged to reporters Monday. “But ... I don’t believe in unilateral disarmament, and I don’t believe that if the other person sets the standard of being very tough that you can back off or you look like you can’t defend yourself.”
At some point today, the campaign will release a new YouTube video laying out all of the tax increases Mitt Romney made while he served as Massachusetts governor.
And new site, NOTROMNEY.org, was launched Saturday by Gingrich citing the reasons that Romney is a moderate –- at least in the eyes of the former speaker. “Romney is not a conservative. Romney is not a Reagan Republican. Romney is not electable,” the flier on the site reads.
Television ad buys in both New Hampshire and South Carolina –- and likely Florida, too -– were made by the campaign to air a 30-second spot again contrasting Gingrich and Romney in similar ways.
“I’m not going to try and match the Romney campaign’s negative ads. I am prepared to say, I am a Reagan conservative; he is a Massachusetts moderate,” Gingrich said Sunday. “That seems to actually hurt almost as much as his ads.”
But it seems as Gingrich is growing “broad shoulders” to withstand the heat from Romney, the former speaker is dishing it back out there just on slightly different terms.
“That if you are faced with somebody who is determined to be negative, you have to at least draw a sharp and clear contrast so people understand who the person is running the negative ads. You don’t have any choice,” he said.
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There isn't anything more dangerous than a wounded Newt! ;o)
BTW - Willard has finally admitted; 'he likes to FIRE people who work for him'!
This is the first truthful thing Willard has said the entire campaign!
What positive phase... this guy is downright evil....
...while calling for a positive campaign, he's attacking Romney negatively in the same same breadth (calling it contrast). The only reason he doesn't have ads his grandchildren will despice is because he doesn't have any money...
None of these guys can hold a candle next to president Obama.
You can't win anything by defending. To win you have to attack, negative ads work, that's just the way it is these days! We will see the worse kind of negative and dirty ads coming from the democrats as there is nothing positive they could possibly showcase regarding Obama's record!
I can see any of the Republicans with a better than 50/50 chance in a debate with the community organizer.... even if he uses a teleprompter! ABO folks, ABO!!!!
I don't know exactly what "positive" campaigning means, anyway. Anytime you reference your opponents' records, the media labels it as "negative." Why is it "negative" to call out your opponent on your opponent's ... poppycock? Why has it suddenly become a dirty trick to use a candidate's own words against him/her?
We shouldn't expect candidates -- especially Republicans -- suddenly to become vegetarians and to ignore all the red meat that is constantly being set out in front of them. For at least that much, and probably not much more, I admired Gingrich's performance yesterday. It was actually a refreshing change from the way other candidates have backed down from Romney and allowed him to get away with stuff.
Personally, I hope they keep it up, and that they don't limit it to Romney. At this rate, by June, President Obama will be running unopposed.
Unless someone finally actually listens to Huntsman, who gave, in my opinion, the most courageous performance of all.
I'm no fan of Newt Gingrich but the ads and mailers Romney did in Iowa were over-the-top nasty but it is so ridiculous to hear Newt complaining about personal attacks and calling Romney a liar. Pot meet kettle. Put all these GOP candidates in a burlap bag and the odds are 100% you'll pull out a liar or truth-stretcher and exaggerator the first try.
Anna M, ssshhhh on the Huntsman talk.
"I was going to stay totally positive and the truth is, I did OK [in Iowa] considering the weight of advertising against me,” Gingrich told one of his largest crowds on the campaign trail Sunday evening in Derry. “Now, my conclusion has been to draw a much sharper contrast.”
Ah, yes..... the old "But, Mom, he started it first!" defense. Never worked with my mother, though.....she'd send us both to our rooms. Maybe I should have tried "But, Mom, I'm drawing a sharp and clear contrast here!" or "But, Mom, if what I'm saying is accurate, then it's okay!"
Nah.....Mom was tough. Would never have worked. And when it comes to the American voting public, I'd venture to guess that who started it first matters less than who said it last.....or loudest......or had the money to repeat it more times. In which case, the Golden Rule applies. No, not that one.....the one that says that the guy with the most gold rules.....
LoL Rick -- I didn't say I would vote for him. And the xenophobes would never allow it, anyway.
JoAnne -- Which "Golden Rule" is older, do you suppose?
My money is on the one that says gold rules.
Is this a joke?
Gingrich had a positive phase???
Anna Molly, well said.
As long as ads use a candidate's words accurately and in context, it is not a negative attack ad nor is it negative to point out the individual's actual record . Negative attacks are those which go after a person's integrity, character and demonize that individual. The Swift Boat ads against John Kerry's military service were personal attacks on his patriotism and his character. The shameless ads by Saxby Chambliss against Max Clelland, a man who lost three limbs during the Vietnam war were vicious, personal attack ads questioning his patriotism. A man who lost three limbs is not a patriotic fighting a war our leaders declared necessary because he has a different ideology? Come on voters, media, know the difference between ads pointing out and showing a person's record on issues, a person's words regarding issues and those which are truely negative, personal character attacks.
I foresee a possible future for Romney...on "The Apprentice"...
JoAnne, PA, that's the truth.
Any ad with the "voice of doom" narrator should automatically be called an attack ad. I also like how they show a horrible photo (usually black and white) of the evil opponent and a sunshiney photo of the hero!
If they didn't work, we wouldn't have them.
This Bain Capital film should come in handy for the President.
Yes, I was thinking that Newt's supporters could not have done the President any bigger favor.
Do you suppose he knows this? I do.
What a total a$$ this guy Blingrich is. I think people are now seeing through all your bull$hit Blingrich...
look for a 5th or sixth place finish for Blingrich below even Rick Perry..
Looks like Republicans are already creating excuses for when Obama wins re-election, "well, if we'd run a real conservative, Americans would have voted for us."
I like being able to fire people
Sorry, Newt. Romney has more money men than you. However, on the bright side, you are going to make the Bain man "testy".
LoL I have to admit that I love it when that happens.
The part I like best about this film?
The whole thing! Newt's trashing of Mitt is so convenient! The Democrats didn't have to spend a minute of their time or a dime of their money to expose Mitt Robot-ney for what he really is: a corporate raider.
Ya gotta love those Republican cannibals.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
phinephancy, it's a pleasure to watch Mitt get "testy" and huffy.
The Republican primaries are no longer "winner take all".
This fact may litter Mitt's road to the nomination with at least TWO very large obstacles...
Rep.Paul has MONEY and about 10-20% support of Republicans/Conservatives/Independents that he can count on in almost every contest.
If Romney fails to score decisive victories in SC and Fla., one of the current "real" Conservatives, or "Anti-Romneys (Newton, Santorum. Perry(?)) will STAY in the race as the "alternative" have funds, and garner 20-30% of the vote and DELEGATES...
Mitt Romney will probably win the majority of the upcoming contests, but will fail to top whatever "benchmark" (50%? 60%?) the MSM sets for his "inevitability" and may potentially go to the convention with less than the 1144 delegates needed.
The fact that Rep. Paul has a dedicated following and a healthy campaign war chest, and no expressed desire to run as a Libertarian alternative, or drop out and endorse ANY of his rivals, would indicate that he will amass and leverage his delegates at the Republican Convention.
If one candidate becomes the Conservative alternative to Mitt, and the anti-Romney vote (and MONEY) coalesces around that candidate, they (and 15-30% of the delegates) may also make it through the primary process to the convention.
If the Republican electorate is split between those who support Romney and those who support Paul that could easilly assure victory for Obama. Look at history with the 1912 election (yes, 100 years ago) when Teddy Roosevelt ran as a Bull Moose party candidate because William H. Taft had done a very poor job as POTUS and the Democrats ran Woodrow Wilson. One of the main reasons Wilson won was the split in the Republicans between those who went for TR and those who went for Taft.
What I am saying is that Paul would wind up in the Taft role and Romney in the Roosevelt role with Obama as Wilson in this scenario.
The next President will no doubt need to be a combination of Conservative/Liberal views in his first term to deal with a split house and senate. Rolling back the more ridiculous policies and laws that Obama enacted will need to be done in stages but expeditiously before they put our nation further in to un recoverable debt spiral. I am encouraged to hear from first time voters in 2008 who are planning to put a little more thought into their next choice for our nations leader....
"...need to be a combination of Conservative/Liberal views..."
It didn't work for Obama in his first term, why would it in his second?
Rick, It's unlikely Obama will get a 2nd term. No doubt a better leader could have gotten more done with a split congress. I think that is what is most encouraging about 2012. No doubt we'll have those liberal who will olny vote for Obama and those who only vote based on race. But the majority of the population won't waste their vote on inexperienced hope and dreams in 2012.....
rick in savannah, what you're saying is that President Obama is not a socialist, communist, fascist, far left liberal but rather a moderate President with both conservative and liberal views which is exactly where most Americans sit idealogically. The simple truth is that most Americans are a mixture of liberal and social views. I believe in fiscal responsibility but I also believe that each of us has a responsibility to contribute to the betterment of society as a whole by paying my taxes. I believe in clean air and water, believe that auto makers and airline safety regulations are important but I also know that too little or too much regulation can be problematic and that it is important to find a workable solution that both improves lives as well as improves business growth. Too little regulation gave us the economic collapse in 2008; too little regulation gave us acid rain and a dead Lake Erie. I also believe that social and religious views are that individuals personal right to believe something with great conviction but it is not their right to dictate those same views on everyone else. I believe every person has a right to worship as they choose but I also believe in the separation of Church and State.
Jody, that is what I'm saying. I wish he were a less of a centrist, but, what am I going to do - vote republican because he isn't the leftist I would prefer?! That is the route the third party conservatives will take when Romney is nominated.
UAW - it is more than a split congress. It is a recalcitrant right wing reactionary House and a Republican wing in the Senate Whose stated goal is to see Obama lose in 2012. I'm sure you've been paying paying attention these past couple years as much as me, so I don't need to regurgitate the dishonesty of the right. you know it, even if you don't want to admit it.
no, there is one person running that has more than a fighting chance if the case were decided on merit. Thankfully, the repub voters may be too dense to see it before it is too late.
That's an excellent short clip of exactly what Mitt Romney was, is and always will be--a corporate raider, a vulture capitalist whose only goal was to make a buck and the American workers and the companies in his path were simply collateral damage on the road to his millions. There is nothing honorable about what Bain Capital and Mitt Romney did to AmPad in IN, GS Industries in NC, Baxter International in IL, Sealy Mattresses.
The Buyout of America: How Private Equity is Destroying Jobs and Killing the American Economyby Josh Kosman has nine pages devoted to Bain's acquisition of Sealy in 1997 and its ultimate near-destruction. It doesn't matter whether a person is republican, independent or democrat, what Bain Capital and firms like it and the Mitt Romney's who run those firms have done to this country is to destroy real free-market capitalism and replace it with corporate greed and power.
I think the nation knows that after Obama's first 3 years the federal government is in desperate need of a down sizing.....
So, UAW, you defend Mitt Romney and Bain Capital for "downsizing" private sector jobs, for destroying private industry, for shipping American jobs overseas? Sure sounds like you do. Last I checked, the federal government does not have a Department of Sealy Mattresses.
Yes Jody. Some times you have to downsize a business when times change. If you don't there is nothing left to save. Granted the US governmt doesnt own Sealy mattresses but they did buy a car company with your money and gave 20% of it to the UAW if that makes you feel any better.....
UAW have you done research? It doesn't appear you have or you would know that the government has actually shrunk under Obama and not increased. Listening to lying talking heads and repeating their talking points won't go far as the truth will be revealed.
Mitts Bain Capital years will most likely help the President be re-elected.
Obama /Biden 2012 A clean and clear choice for America.
UAW, you really need to read up on exactly what Mitt Romney's downsizing amounted to. There were some firms where re-vamping was necessary but a large proportion of what Bain did was destroy highly profitable companies by borrowing (leveraging) millions in loans against their excellent credit ultimately bankrupting those businesses or reducing them to a foot note in a business sector. Check out Baxter International which became Dade Behring. Romney was involved when Dade Behring purchased a rival company owned by DuPont in 1996, laid off 700 workers in Illinois, merged the two companies with a German competitor, which moved much of the production overseas costing an additional 1,000 jobs. Bain Capital took two profitable firms and sold them to a foreign competitor who then took nearly everything overseas to Germany.
Seriously, UAW, you spout the rhetoric of a belief but you never look bother to search out the facts. I'd suggest you start learning the facts instead of spewing what Romney says because it suits the way you think it should be.
To counter your next message to me, no I do not believe or agree with everything a democrat tells me nor do I spout only those things I hear them say. I do my own research and the research on Mitt Romney and Bain Capital is not pretty. I would have the very same criticism if Romney was a democrat or one of those No Name party people.
Working for Bain Capital won't hurt or help Romney anymore than worshiping with Rev Wright and starting his political career in a terrorist's home effected Obama. Frankly the next president doesnt even have to be a Republican. A better Democrat could come along as well.....
Jody, I've been involved in the buy-out and merger of many companies. Granted it's diffrent than organzing a community of welfare recipients but tough choices still have to be made. If you don't like Romney come up with a better democrat. Obama's anti-business rhetoric is rallying a smaller audience in 2012. As evidenced by the lack-luster support for OWS.....
On the other hand, I remain positive.
I'm POSITIVE that Newt Gingrich will not be the nominee.
I'm POSITIVE that he never had a chance to be the nominee.
I'm POSITIVE that if he was the nominee he'd get his clock cleaned by President Obama in the general election.
The Republican party is in disarray.....Imploding!!!
Clear the isles.......Newt and Romney are destroying each other
Repubs and Teabaggers are angry......very angry
If you were a Republican or TeaBagger you would be angry too!....they have NO viable candidate!
This is Perfect!!!!!!
haha, you wish.
ABO will do the job.
Quit whining, Newt, it's nobody's fault but yours that you were 4th even behind the nut Ron Paul.
I have news, Newt, politics is a dirty business and one who knew that better than many (Harry Truman), said, "If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen". So Newt, ol' boy it is time to take off the apron, remove the toque and make a hasty retreat from the kitchen before you embarrass yourself and others.
Romney will buy the candidacy because money talks and the Romney super PAC screams. The Republican Party is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the 1% and they want one of their own in the White House. Romney is in the top 0.001%, at a net worth of $250,000,000.00. To him, the middle class is folks making between 1 and 5 million dollars a year.
Baldeagle11, I agree, Newt is pathetic!
For all you foolish Americans that voted for Obama, the Socialist; He had three years to do something positive for this country and has only increased our debt limit, given absurd bail outs, suffocated us with Obama care, enacted the Patriot Act, increased taxes, and continually deprives us of more freedoms.
Some of you keep referring to Romney as a guy for the corporations. Because he was a successful CEO, you want to shun him? Are you crazy? Does America need help turning around the economy? This guy has been successful at EVERYTHING he has done. He is the most likely candidate to defeat Obama!
Santorum has no experience running anything just as Obama has no experience running anything, except now, Obama has some experience running this country into the ground!
Ron Paul as a little different as he is, will stand by your American rights and freedoms. Go read the constitution! He deserves a little research on what he stands for OUTSIDE of mainstream media!
Romney will do just fine! Ron Paul will do just fine!
ANYBODY BUT OBAMA 2012!
This is because of the drastic shift in "Nutty Newt's" medications. He has not been getting along with others during group therapy sessions. In his private counseling sessions he has become very obsessed with "Romulian Romney." He has been very upset that the "Romulian" has been purposely beaming in and out of his room during the night. Nurses have heard screaming coming from "Nutty Newt's" Room. When "Nutty Newt" is allowed to go outside in the yard. He is constantly screaming at the sky and yelling. "Shoot the "Romulians' Bird Of Prey!!" One nurse has observed "Nutty Newt" throwing stones in the air at his fictional Romulian Bird Of Prey. The probem is that the stones "Nutty Newt" throws up in the air. Come down hitting him in the head. Many concussions have been reported by the nurses in recent days. Now "Nutty Newt" has been given stronger medications because, he thought that "Romulian Romney" had a poltically independent Vulcan give his a mind probbing.
Ummm, progressive, I think from your rant, we all know who's taking the meds......and it's gotta be YOU.
I swear, he morphs more into being the personification of Eric Cartman with each passing day.