Palin has not endorsed anyone, but her husband, Todd, supports Gingrich.
Gingrich said he was less combative during the debate because he was shocked by Romney’s “totally dishonest” answers.
Discussions of lunar colonies and grandmas were among the must-see moments at the Republican debate in Florida on Thursday night. (Jan. 26)
On several occasions during the debate, Gingrich leaned away from his lectern and looked at his feet. That was because he was so stunned by Romney’s statements, he said. He didn’t engage, he said, because “I wanted to fact-check. I wanted to make sure he was as totally dishonest as I thought he was.”
Gingrich charged that Romney was lying when he said he didn’t know about an ad his campaign is running that accuses Gingrich of calling Spanish a “ghetto” language. The former speaker charged that Romney also lied when he explained that the only reason he voted for former senator Paul Tsongas in the 1992 Democratic presidential primary was because there was not a Republican contest that year.
Gingrich’s new ad features a quote from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who ran against Romney in 2008, attacking Romney: “If a man’s dishonest to get a job, he’ll be dishonest on the job.”
Huckabee disavowed the ad and asked Gingrich to take it down.
Also Friday, Romney and Gingrich reached out to Latino voters, saying they would champion freedom in Cuba and the rest of Latin America. Gingrich promised to allow Puerto Rico to vote on statehood, but Romney announced that Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño (R) had endorsed him.
Gingrich held a news conference with about a dozen Hispanic leaders. In a letter to Romney, the group wrote: “Without an open dialogue with us, you are unable to understand issues important to the Latino community.”
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll released Friday showed Gingrich leading Romney nationally, 37 percent to 28 percent.
Underscoring the topsy-turvy nature of the race, however, the same poll showed Romney doing better than Gingrich against President Obama.
Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) and former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) trailed in the latest Quinnipiac poll, drawing 14 percent and 12 percent respectively.
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