Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have been sparring against each other throughout the campaign season, but in recent weeks each candidate has intensified their attacks on one another.
Mr. Gingrich has been extremely vocal about the negative ads being run against him by Super Political Action Committees that support the former Massachusetts governor.
In an appearance on Fox News Tuesday, as voters in Iowa head to the caucuses and continue to be inundated with ads from all campaigns, Mr. Romney stated that he believes the best ads being run against the former House speaker are coming from Texas congressman Ron Paul.
“You’ve gotta be able to live with all that come as part of a political campaign,” said Mr. Romney. “I thought the best ads that were contrasting Newt Gingrich’s record with his rhetoric came from Ron Paul. The ads that came from the Ron Paul campaign I thought were very effective and making it pretty tough on the speaker.”
After emerging as the Republican front runner in late November, and even predicting his a victory for himself for 2012, Mr. Gingrich has drastically declined in popularity among likely Iowa caucus goers, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Saturday.
The former House speaker has blamed his decline primarily on Mr. Romney supporting the Super PACs that are constantly running ads against him, highlighting his past relationship with failed mortgage giant Freddie Mac and a climate change ad that he did with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.)
Mr. Romney also referenced ads being run by Texas Governor Rick Perry and the other Republican candidates that also attack Mr. Romney himself, categorizing him as a “Wall Street insider,” while calling Mr. Gingrich a “Washington insider.”
The Bain Capital co-founder has consistently responded to Mr. Gingrich’s indictment of his negative ads by pointing out that the attack ads are simply a part of the political process. On Tuesday, he claimed that Mr. Gingrich’s preference of staying positive and campaigning with “rules” is simply inefficient.
“The idea of saying look lets go back to the rules of playing bridge in politics, we haven’t had that. If you go back to the days of Jefferson and Adams,” said Mr. Romney. “I’m not going to whine about ads being too tough, I’m instead going to insist that they be honest.”
On Monday, Mr. Gingrich essentially conceded defeat to the Romney campaign due primarily to the negative ads being run against him, and pledged to run a more aggressive campaign in New Hampshire.
