Gingrich 2012 Staffer Fired Over 'Cult of Mormon' Comment

Jessica McGowan/Getty Images(DES MOINES, Iowa) -- A member of Newt Gingrich’s campaign staff in Iowa was asked to resign Tuesday after disparaging comments he had made about Mitt Romney surfaced.

Craig Bergman, the political director for Newt 2012 in Iowa said last Wednesday that some pastors are on the “anti-Mitt Romney bandwagon.”

“A lot of the evangelicals believe God would give us four more years of Obama just for the opportunity to expose the cult of Mormon.  There’s a thousand pastors ready to do that,” Bergman said last week to a Republican focus group.

In the same focus group, Bergman also was critical of Gingrich, calling him the “smartest unwise man in America.”

According to the The Iowa Republican, the organization that hosted the focus group, Bergman was worried about backing Gingrich after incidents such as the GOP frontrunner’s appearance alongside fellow former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in an ad dealing with global warming.  He had just begun working as a political director for Newt 2012 last week, and had participated in The Iowa Republican’s focus group prior to joining the campaign.

Bergman has previously worked for Ron Paul during his 2008 campaign, and most recently was a part of the grassroots movement in Iowa for a Sarah Palin presidential campaign, ‘Organize 4 Palin.’

Linda Upmeyer, Gingrich’s Iowa Caucus chair told the Des Moines Register that Bergman’s views did not represent Gingrich’s views.  Upmeyer said she has never had any discussion with Gingrich that resembled Bergman’s remarks.

The campaign released a statement Tuesday night saying Bergman agreed to step away from his role.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Ann Romney on Her Husband: 'He’ll Stick with You in the Hard Times'

Darren McCollester/Getty Images(ROBINS, Iowa) -- Mitt Romney’s wife Ann hit the stump Tuesday evening in the small town of Robins, Iowa -- exactly three weeks out from the Iowa caucuses -- to persuade the crowd to vote for her husband by describing what an honest and trustworthy man he is.

“He’s steadfast, honest, he’s good.  He sticks with you in the hard times,” Ann Romney said at a fundraiser for a state representative.  “I appreciate that, and I appreciate that quality of his.  He’s good to the core and I trust him so completely.”

The Romney campaign has been sending Ann Romney out more, hoping she’s the secret weapon that can help stop the surging campaign of Newt Gingrich.  Compared to the thrice married Gingrich who has admitted to marital infidelity, the Romneys are a stark contrast: married for 42 years and seemingly still madly in love.  Ann Romney is out trying to make that case without naming names or explicitly comparing family lives.

Of course, it’s clear without having to be explicit.  Last week, the Romney campaign even released an ad focusing on their family life.  And during the last election cycle, the entire Romney clan was on the trail more -- also a clear contrast with opponent Rudy Giuliani’s complicated home life.

Gingrich may be ahead of Romney in the polls in Iowa, but the campaign is hoping that his wife’s stories about being madly in love at 16 years old, the couple’s first date to see The Sound of Music, and her husband having to teach her how to change diapers when their first child, Tagg, was born will charm voters.  She also discussed how he stood by her when she suffered from a debilitating multiple sclerosis diagnosis that she has now recovered from.

The hope is that this will help sway voters away from a candidate that doesn’t have the same kind of sparkling marital background.

“You all know that other side of his -- the business side, the successful side.  I know without any doubt that he’ll be a great president, but for me I’m grateful for that side of him that many of you don’t know about, that I think people do need to know about,” Romney told the crowd of about 50.  ”He’s the kind of guy that has been so terrific and such an example for my sons of being a wonderful father.”

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David Axelrod Jabs Gingrich, Compares Him to a Monkey

Riccardo S. Savi/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Newt Gingrich has joked that God wanted him to be a bear, not a gazelle.  But President Obama’s chief campaign strategist David Axelrod said on Tuesday that Gingrich is more like a monkey.

Speaking at a Washington press briefing, Axelrod said the former House speaker’s climb to the top of the pack will further expose his least flattering personal and professional qualities.

“Just remember, the higher a monkey climbs on a pole, the more you can see his butt,” Axelrod said, citing a piece of political wisdom he said he learned from a Chicago alderman.  “So, the speaker is very high on the pole right now and we’ll see how people like the view.”

Axelrod chided Gingrich as an “extremist” whose role in the partisan fights of the 1990s helped lead to government shutdowns and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

“His penchant for provocation is not going to help him deal with the shortfalls that he has right now among women, among seniors and some other key constituencies,” he added.

A spokesman for Gingrich declined to comment on Axelrod’s remarks but forwarded a copy of Gingrich’s letter sent to staff and supporters earlier Tuesday promising to run “a positive, solutions-based campaign.”

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Obama and Gingrich to Debate with No Moderator? Not Likely

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Could Newt Gingrich and President Obama actually debate each other for three hours with no moderator -- seven times?

That’s what Gingrich apparently wants.  The 2012 hopeful has pledged repeatedly to challenge Obama to a series of  “Lincoln-Douglas”-style debates if he’s the Republican nominee for president.

But the chance of such debates happening is low. The Obama campaign didn’t respond when asked if it would consider Gingrich’s proposal -- even after Gingrich teased Obama could "bring his teleprompter" -- and historians and presidential observers note that the challenge, not an unusual one, is more of a coy suggestion designed to bolster a nonincumbent.

On Monday, Gingrich and Jon Huntsman had a debate in New Hampshire fashioned after the Lincoln-Douglas forum.  A time-keeper -- not a moderator -- sat next to the two and spoke only after a candidate had finished talking, and just to introduce the other.

Gingrich said at the beginning that the debate would lend itself to unpredictability because “you don’t have talking points, your consultants didn’t figure it out, you didn’t do focus groups, you’re just talking from your own experience about the nature of the world.”

The time-keeper said at one point that he wouldn’t be using buzzers, horns or bells to cut off the candidates. “And we’re grateful,” Gingrich replied.

If anything, by extending the offer to Obama, Gingrich is not only showing his own self-confidence that he can debate Obama comfortably, but he separates himself even further from the pack of GOP contenders whom he’s already debated a dozen times.

“Tactically, it’s a smart move,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert on campaigns who has observed the history of presidential debates. “Effectively, it takes some of the other candidates out of question.”

The exact logistics of Gingrich’s desired Lincoln-Douglas format have not been specified, and the show itself might not be that entertaining to some of the viewing public.  Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas discussed issues -- mainly slavery -- seven times during their 1858 Senate race, but the audience didn’t witness heated exchanges so much as lengthy speeches.  One candidate would speak for an hour; the next would respond in 90 minutes; and the first would return with a half-hour rebuttal.

In today’s media environment, voters might tune in for the first in the series of unmoderated policy speeches in a general election, but for seven?

“There’s a danger that it would fail to hold interest,” said David Greenberg, a presidential historian who has cautioned against romanticizing debates modeled after the Lincoln-Douglas style.  “What kind of ratings does C-Span get?”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Dems' Anti-Gingrich Ad May Actually Be Helping 2012 Hopeful

ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- A new Democratic ad tying Newt Gingrich to the tea party might actually be benefiting him in the primary.

The ad, intended to portray Gingrich as pandering to the far right, calls the former House speaker the “original tea partier.”

Amy Kremer, the chairwoman of the Tea Party Express, said on Monday that she’s gotten “a number of emails” from supporters who say they think Gingrich has better standing among them because of it.

Gingrich has been involved with the tea party since practically the beginning of the movement, said Kremer, who started organizing tea partiers in Atlanta, where Gingrich represented a district when he was in the House.

“I understand what they’re trying to do, but I think it helps him,” Kremer said.

That could be welcome news to Democrats, who have recently turned their P.R. machine on responding to Gingrich.

Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Melanie Roussell responded that Gingrich is, “leading the charge” with the tea party.

“The Republican candidates have been fighting to be the most extreme, most far-right and Newt Gingrich is leading the charge in promoting extreme Tea Party policies that hurt the middle class, slash Social Security and end Medicare as we know it,” she said in a statement.  “The Republican candidates’ pandering to the extreme Tea Party wing of the Republican party stands in distinct contrast with President Obama’s record of fighting for the middle class and whoever wins the nomination will have to answer to the American people next November.”

The Tea Party Express hasn’t endorsed a candidate.  Kremer said she wanted to publicly support one after hosting a debate with CNN, but that tea partiers are now “all over the board on who they support.”

She said the group will probably scrap its plan to endorse a candidate before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

New Ron Paul Ad Hits Gingrich for Washington Influence Peddling

Alex Wong/Getty Images(SPRINGFIELD, Va.) -- Ron Paul’s campaign has launched a new ad going after former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s influence peddling.

The “Selling Access” ad intertwines Gingrich’s own words with several television talking heads, accusing the former speaker of receiving $1.8 million from mortgage giant Freddie Mac just before it collapsed and receiving $37 million from the health care industry.

The ad then ties Gingrich with the individual mandate clause in the Affordable Care Act, the health care overhaul pushed by President Obama, and adds: “Newt Gingrich has been on the both sides of a long list of issues.”

Then Gingrich’s own words are used as he is seen bragging about earning $60,000 a speech.

“I was charging $60,000 a speech -- normally celebrities leave and they gradually sell fewer speeches every year -- we were selling more,” Gingrich says in the ad.

The ad, which the campaign said will “promote prominently on conservative web sites,” comes on the heels of the web and television ad “Serial Hypocrisy,” which also used news clips to slam Gingrich’s work since leaving public office 13 years ago.

Gingrich himself denies that he has worked as a lobbyist.

During the ABC News/Des Moines Register GOP debate Saturday night, Gingrich was asked to respond to Paul’s claims of influence peddling. Gingrich again said he “was never a spokesman for any agency” and “never did any lobbying for any agency,” though he said he offered strategic advice.

The response generated laughter from the audience.

Gingrich did agree with Paul, however, that the housing bubble came from the Federal Reserve inflating the money supply and also agreed with Paul that the Fed should be audited and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke should be fired.

Paul said he found Gingrich’s answer “annoying” and told NBC News that “when you make the credit, somebody has to distribute it and somebody has to benefit.”

The libertarian-leaning Texas congressman is buoyed by strong poll numbers. In the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, Paul is among the top three in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Similar polls by NBC, CBS and the Des Moines Register show the same. To continue building momentum, Paul has set his sights on Gingrich.

While Gingrich led Republicans in Washington as speaker of the House in the 1990s, Paul has often been a thorn in their side, unyielding in his support for a radical downsizing of the federal government and promoting himself as a “consistent conservative.”

Paul recently told ABC News’ Jon Karl that Gingrich “may be the opposite of what I’ve been doing for 30 years. My positions haven’t changed all that much.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Rick Santorum ‘Taken Aback’ By Mitt Romney’s $10,000 Bet

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call(DES MOINES, Iowa) -- Presidential candidate Rick Santorum said he was “taken aback” by Mitt Romney’s $10,000 bet at Saturday night’s ABC News presidential debate, suggesting that “a nickel or a dollar” would have been a more appropriate amount.

“I was a little taken aback by it,” Santorum told reporters on Monday after a campaign event in Iowa. “That would not be a number I would have thrown out,” he said.

“I either say a nickel or a dollar. I use, ‘I’ll betcha’ a dollar’ or ‘I betcha nickel.’ It’s the substantive argument not the money, and as the father of seven children, nickels and dollars are easier to come by than $10,000,” Santorum said.

But the former Pennsylvania senator, who has spent more time campaigning in Iowa than any of his opponents, thanked rival Rick Perry for raising the issue of Romney’s past statements that indicate he once thought the Massachusetts health care plan was a “model for the nation.”

“It was in his book,” Santorum said, referring to Romney’s No Apology. “I’ve seen it. I don’t know why Mitt keeps running away from it. If you changed your mind -- this is not something new -- he changed his mind.”

Santorum’s campaign also sent out a fundraising pitch to supporters on Monday, seeking $10,000.

“Mitt Romney is a multimillionaire former venture capitalist, so we understand that $10,000 might not be a lot of money to him. But it is to us and we are sure it is to most of you,” the email message read. “That’s why we are betting on our grassroots supporters to help us raise $10,000 today.”

After his campaign event, held at the downtown Des Moines offices of the Principal Financial Group, Santorum also turned his fire on Newt Gingrich. He told reporters that he was troubled by Gingrich’s past work for Freddie Mac.

“Look, I think the fact that he went out and lobbied for an organization, in my opinion, was not consistent with the conservative values we have,” Santorum said. “I just wouldn’t do that. I worked for a company when I got out of Congress.”

Santorum later clarified that Gingrich wasn’t actually registered as a lobbyist but was “someone who spoke on behalf of Freddie,” and that, he said, would be enough to create a liability for the former House speaker should he win the Republican nomination.

Members of Santorum’s staff also passed out a copy of a May 5, 2006, letter signed by Santorum and other members of Congress warning of the “enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Candidate Betting Game Continues: Gingrich Wages $10

ABC News(LONDONDERRY, N.H.) -- Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry might not be a betting man, but Newt Gingrich is.
 
Gingrich said Monday that he wants to make a bet with Mitt Romney after Romney went on Fox and Friends and said Gingrich should give back the money he made as a consultant for failed home mortgage corporation Freddie Mac.
 
"I love the way he and his consultants do those things. I would just say that if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he's earned on bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years if being, then I would be glad to then listen to him, and I'll bet you $10, not $10,000 that he won't take the offer," Gingrich said.
 
A $10 wager is much lower than the $10,000 Romney bet Perry on Saturday night at the ABC News debate when Perry suggested Romney left a line out of a reprint of his book concerning backing health care mandates. Romney said he would bet $10,000 that Perry's comments weren’t true.

"He must have been really sure of himself," Gingrich said about Romney's bet. "I wouldn't bet that amount of money."

Gingrich said he was "startled" by the bet comment because he knows Perry very well, "I couldn't imagine he could cover a bet like that. He's been a public servant all his career," Gingrich said.

Perry said the Romney bet was "out of touch" and "pocket change for Mitt."

Gingrich will continue to campaign in N.H. on Monday, holding a debate with Jon Huntsman and a town hall in Windham, N.H., before going back to Iowa on Wednesday.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Romney Critiques Newt’s Style, Declares ‘No Whining in Politics’

ABC News(MADISON, N.H.) -- Mitt Romney critiqued GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich’s off the cuff style Monday as an unlikely way to win the White House, suggesting that unfiltered remarks may make the former speaker a weaker candidate.

“I know that among some folks just saying outrageous and incendiary things will get you kudos and drive your number up, but it’s not going to win you the White House and it’s not going to win us the respect of people on the other side of the aisle that we have to bring together to overcome the extraordinary challenges we have,” said Romney, addressing the media after taking a tour and speaking to employees of the Madison Lumber Mill in northern New Hampshire.

“My own view is you take it to President Obama by describing his failures, not by saying things that people who voted for him in the past -- that we need to vote for us now, will find offensive,” said Romney.

Asked whether he agrees that negative advertisements can make a candidate seem “desperate,” a characterization that has been made by Gingrich’s campaign, Romney shot back: “There’s no whining in politics.”

“We aren’t running any negative ads at this point, but we may,” Romney said. “This is, after all, politics. There is no whining in politics. You get in a political process and you fight hard and describe the differences between yourself and the other candidates. But at this stage all of our ads have been, I believe, positive.”

Romney also questioned whether Gingrich understands how the economy works when asked about the former speaker’s suggestion earlier Monday that Romney give money back to businesses he’s profited from that have then gone bankrupt.

“Doesn’t he understand how the economy works? In the real economy, some businesses succeed and some fail,” said Romney. “That’s how that works and you try and encourage the more successful and fortunately for many people, tens of thousands of jobs, actually over a hundred thousands of jobs were created by the investments that we were able to help make. ”

“There’s a big difference between working in the private economy and working on K Street and working as a lobbyist or working as a legislator or working to connect businesses with government,” said Romney.  K Street is the location of major Washington lobbyists.

“If he was working as a spokesman for Fannie Mae – excuse me, Freddie Mac — if he was there because of his political connections — and then if Freddie Mac fails, I think a fair question is asked, why did he profit as Freddie Mac failed?”

Holding his second press conference in as many days, and having amped up his media appearances in recent weeks, Romney declined to say whether his rise in accessibility was due to concern over his drop in the polls.

“We just felt people are going to get real tired of me if I was here saying hello to everyone everyday on the TV from January of this year all the way through to January of next year,” said Romney. “We said the time to get more visible is toward the end when people are really listening to my message, when people really pay attention to a political process.”

“So you’re seeing our ads go up now and you’re seeing me more available to the media,” he said. “I’ll be on the various talk shows, Sunday shows. This is the time I want people to know what I stand for and get their support because we’re heading into the time when they’re going to make their decision.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Newt Gingrich Pledges ‘Personal Fidelity to My Spouse’

Kris Connor/Getty Images(ATLANTA) -- Newt Gingrich, who has married three times, promised personal fidelity going forward and provided a lengthy written response to an Iowa social conservative group’s so-called “Marriage Vow.” But he did not sign the pledge.

“I also pledge to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others,” Gingrich wrote in response to the Family Leader’s request for him to sign the 14-point pledge.

Gingrich also promised to “enforce the Defense of Marriage Act,” to support a “federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman” and to “oppose any judicial, bureaucratic, or legislative effort to define marriage in any manner other than as between one man and one woman,” among other things.

The group’s leader, Bob Vander Plaats, an influential conservative in the state, said members of the organization were “pleased that Speaker Gingrich has affirmed our pledge and are thankful we have on record his statements regarding DOMA, support of a federal marriage amendment, defending the unborn, pledging fidelity to his spouse, defending religious liberty and freedom, supporting sound pro-family economic issues, and defending the right of the people to rule themselves.”

While Gingrich affirmed the principles in the Family Leader’s pledge, he declined to sign it.

“Speaker Gingrich did not sign the pledge, but provided his written response affirming the principles laid out in the Marriage Vow,” according to a statement from the group.

Family Leader’s “Marriage Vow -- A Declaration of Dependence upon Marriage and Family,” equates same-sex marriage with bigamy and polygamy and calls on candidates to promise to be faithful to their spouses.

The two-page pledge includes a “Declaration of Dependence on Marriage and Family” that blames several factors for the deterioration of traditional marriage including “quickie divorce” and unmarried couples living together. The pledge also describes homosexuality as a choice and not genetic.

As the Iowa group points out, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum are the only candidates who have officially signed the pledge. So far, the other GOP candidates have declined.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio