New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O’Brien has been Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s biggest supporter in the Granite state, while also being rival candidate Mitt Romney’s biggest opponent.
Mr. Romney has maintained a substantial lead in polls of New Hampshire voters in recent months, but Mr. O’Brien believes the former governor of New Hampshire’s neighboring state is a liar and wants his constituents to vote for Mr. Gingrich.
The New Hampshire House Speaker is the highest ranking public official in New Hampshire to endorse Mr. Gingrich, and he agrees with the former U.S. House speaker that Mr. Romney is a “Massachusetts moderate.”
“They’re gonna be disappointed in Gov. Romney, just as they’re disappointed by him being portrayed by the party establishment, here in New Hampshire and nationally, as a conservative,” said Mr. O’Brien Sunday in an interview with Politico. ”Particularly in New Hampshire, being next door from Massachusetts, we know the guy isn’t.”
Voters in New Hampshire don’t seem to agree with Mr. O’Brien or Mr. Gingrich though. The PPP poll of likely New Hampshire voters released Sunday shows Mr. Romney still holding a large lead over the rest of the Republican field with just one day remaining until the New Hampshire Republican primary election.
Mr. Gingrich launched some of his strongest attacks at Mr. Romney during the back to back presidential debates in New Hampshire this weekend, harping on his various failed attempts in elections and his record of job killing versus job creation as the co-founder of Bain Capital.
Mr. O’Brien believes that Mr. Romney was behind the negative ads that killed Mr. Gingrich’s top tier candidacy position in the Iowa caucuses last week, and wants him to take credit for them too.
He said that people New Hampshire don’t appreciate the kind of polished politically correct way that Mr. Romney has chosen to address those negative ads funded by the Super Political Action Committees that support him.
“Gov. Romney said, ‘I don’t know what’s in the ad; I can’t control it; I don’t coordinate it — oh, but by the way, here’s what’s in the ad,’” said Mr. O’Brien Sunday. “He’s effectively saying, ‘Yes, I am responsible for negative campaigning.’ People in New Hampshire don’t appreciate that.”
