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Erik S. Lesser / EPA
Former House Speaker and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich leads a campaign rally Friday in Peachtree City, Ga.
PEACHTREE CITY, GA -- Newt Gingrich made his intentions in Georgia known Friday night while criticizing his GOP rivals for skipping his home state.
“It's very important for me to win Georgia. Our goal is to win Georgia,” Gingrich told reporters inside an airport hangar following a rally with roughly 350 people.
Fresh off a fundraising swing through California, the former House speaker challenged Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum not to ignore Georgia, a Super Tuesday state.
“If you’re afraid to debate Newt Gingrich, you sure can’t debate Barack Obama,” Gingrich said at the event just outside of Atlanta. “I am going to ask them to reconsider and come to Georgia. It will be just fine. We will be hospitable.”
The remarks came after both Romney and Santorum decided to pull out of a presidential debate originally slated in the Peach State on March 1.
Two chickens were even seen wandering around the Gingrich event Friday mocking the two candidates for their decision not to participate in the debate. One was wearing a Romney shirt and holding a sign that read “I’m Chicken to Debate Newt” while the other wore a Santorum shirt and held a sign that read “76 Delegates but Mitt and Rick don’t want them?”
The former speaker, who has faded from the spotlight in recent weeks, is confident that his strategy, where he seems to be focusing more on Southern states, will propel him back to the front of the pack.
“With your help we are going to win the [Georgia] primary, that’s a big piece of winning Super Tuesday,” Gingrich said, standing on stage with his wife, Callista, daughter Jackie and her family. “When we win Super Tuesday, we are back in the game, and for the third time, we will be moving back toward front-runner status.”
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Bless his little heart...
One step for Newt; one giant step for a brokered convention. The longer he hangs in there the better.
Was the Santorum chicken wearing a sweater vest? And, if a it was a chicken and not a rooster, where does the chicken hold the asprin?
Newter should pack his bags AND QUIT. Very few people want him as the nominee. He's a legend in his own mind..........
A pity another debate has been cancelled. Watching the GOP candidates turn their talons on each other and say how unfit the other is to be president at least reflects the Republican electorate in one key respect: GOP voters aren’t eager to vote for any of these guys either. But fortunately the spectacle is humorous, as is this funny YouTube video that images what Obama’s Chicago home would say if its walls could talk. Enjoy:
It's OK Newt...Spanky still supports your moonbase...your campaign donation is in the mail, and he even wants to volunteer...for a fee, of course!
Hey, I support the moon base, too. Seriously. To my policy ears, that was one of Newt's better moments. To my political ears, it is a bit of a gamble, because it did open him to scoffing, dismissive ridicule his opponents are all too happy to throw at him. Partisan pea flingers have dug themselves so deeply in the food fighting trenches, it has created an almost kneejerk cynicism to any big ideas - which can't be a good thing. If big ideas aren't allowed anymore, what does that say about our future?
Gingrich is no dummy. I'm sure it hasn't been lost on him that everyone is focused on whether Romney will lose his home state, and hardly anyone even seemed to remember that Gingrich would soon be competing in his home state. In that sense, his declaration that he's trying to win Georgia can almost be seen as a sad cry for attention.
We could be seeing a real geographic split in this nomination with Santorum winning the Midwest, Gingrich in the South, and Romney taking the corners (Florida, West Coast, New England). And Ron Paul gaming the system in caucus states.
It's possible. Gingrich would have to prove he still has the same levels of support among southerners he did back during South Carolina. I'm thinking he probably doesn't. That happened with him on top of the national polling, and now he's barely within sight of the front pack.
True, the idea of a Gingrich South is an extrapolation from just two data points (win in SC, poll position in GA). But the race would be a lot more entertaining if all four guys stay in it as long as possible. Plus the idea of Gingrich's supporters abandoning him and pushing Rick Santorum anywhere near a shot at actually being president is just terrifying.
Finally the end of the GOP. These people are very entertaining but we must get serious. The people in Pa. voted in Republican Tom Corbett and now their bitching about the education cuts, funding for seniors, funding for the poor. What the hell did you think you were going to get when you voted for a Republican?
We all have dreams and Newt just dreams higher than most of us. As the least popular of all those still in the race Gingrich would have to be dreaming if he thinks he seriously has a chance of winning the Republican nomination let alone the Presidency. Dream on Newt, dream on there little fella.
This guy made a horrible speaker of the house, and hopefully GA will join with other states by giving Newt the Boot. The less votes he gets the better, worst out of the whole buch, I'm surprised more people don't remember just how bad he is.