Former House speaker and current Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich announced Thursday that he will pull a controversial ad focusing on the issue of immigration reform.
Mr. Gingrich’s campaign said Wednesday it would withdraw a Spanish-language radio ad that attacked rival Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as being “anti-immigrant.”
The move came in response to a request by Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican and a Cuban-American, who said neither Mr. Romney nor Mr. Gingrich was “anti-immigrant.”
Speaking on Thursday, Mr. Rubio welcomed the decision, saying it was the right decision.
“I think Speaker Gingrich made the right decision,” said Mr. Rubio. “I’ve known Speaker Gingrich for a long time; I’m an admirer of him; I think he made the right choice.”
The Florida Republican, who is seen as the one the Republican Party’s rising stars, said he objected to the ad, in part, because Democrats could use the issue later in the 2012 campaign.
“I didn’t think the ad was accurate, I didn’t think it had a place in this campaign,” said the Florida Republican. “I want to make sure we don’t have candidates out there saying things that we’re going to have to defend or clean up in the fall when we have to campaign in Florida.”
The issue comes as polls show Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney engaged in a right race for the Republican presidential nomination. A series of polls released this week show the Republican duo battling for support in the state of Florida, which holds its primary on Tuesday.
