Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is finding it difficult to uphold his pledge to remain positive for the remainder of his campaign. His GOP rivals have consistently criticized his past relationship with mortgage giant Freddie Mac, and a number of the Super PACs supporting them are constantly running negative ads against him in Iowa in the final days leading up to the Iowa caucuses on January 3rd.
On Tuesday, Mr. Gingrich launched a 22 stop tour across Iowa.
On Wedndesday, Mr. Gingrich intensified his efforts to address all the negative concerns that voters in Iowa may have against him. He began all of his appearances Wednesday in the Hawkeye state by announcing that he wanted to answer all negative connotations regarding his past political and post political record, Politico reports.
“I want people to feel very free to talk to me and find out what the truth is,” Mr. Gingrich said Wednesday, speaking via telephone on his daily teleconference town hall that he conducts from his bus.
When one voter accused of “raiding the Social Security Trust Fund” to balance the budget in the 1990s, the former House speaker refuted the claims.
“By the standards that had been set up in the unified budget process, it was clearly balanced. We were playing under the budget rules that existed at the time,” Mr. Gingrich stated.
He declined to comment on a CNN released a poll Wednesday of registered Republican voters in Iowa. The poll showed that he has slid to fourth place behind former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, a significant drop from his front running status there in late November.
However, Mr. Gingrich believes that even if he does finish poorly in the Iowa cacuses, he still will have a great chance at winning the Republican nomination in 2012.
“Considering that I’m 20 points ahead in some other states it would be fairly foolish for me not to stay in the race. It is a long way from here to picking a nominee,” Mr. Gingrich said Thursday in an interview with The Des Moines Register.
However, as of right now, he remains focused on courting Iowa voters, and deflecting the negative television ads that are currently being run in Iowa by GOP candidates Rick Perry, Ron Paul, and the Super PACs that support them.
“I’m paying total attention to Iowa. Everything I’m trying to do right now is here and will be for the next six days,” Mr. Gingrich said Thursday.
