TAMPA, Fla. – The gloves came off in South Carolina, but in Florida, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is swinging harder than ever in a fight to protect his campaign against a surging Newt Gingrich.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is trying to restore the momentum to his weakened campaign by tearing into Gingrich over his past consulting work after Gingrich’s decisive victory in South Carolina propelled him to the top of the polls here ahead of next week’s Florida primary.
The latest survey in the Sunshine State, by Rasmussen Reports, shows Gingrich, the former House Speaker, holds a significant lead over Romney, 41 percent to 32 percent.
Gingrich is slated to hold a campaign rally here at 2 p.m.
Romney met this morning with a group of business people for a roundtable discussion on their struggles in the weakened Florida economy. As soon as it ended, he held a press conference with reporters where he repeatedly criticized Gingrich, calling him unstable and suggesting he should release his past business records in order to avoid an “October surprise” that could weaken the GOP’s chances of winning the White House in November.
Romney’s bashing comes after he was pressured by Gingrich to release his own tax returns, which Romney plans to do on Tuesday.
Romney wants Gingrich to make public all the documents related to his ethics violations when he was House Speaker in the 1990s, as well as all the information related to his consulting business.
“Let’s see who his clients were,” Romney said, adding that Gingrich’s past consulting work “could represent not just evidence of lobbying, but potentially wrongful activity of some kind.”
Gingrich accepted $1.7 million in consulting fees from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises that have been blamed in part for instigating the housing bubble.
Romney also touted himself as the stable alternative to an erratic Gingrich, citing his vote in favor of creating the Department of Education, followed later by his desire to eliminate it. Romney said Gingrich once praised the Massachusetts health care law he helped to create, but is now critical of it.
“He’s gone from pillar to post, almost like a pinball machine,” Romney said.
Romney surrogates will talk again this morning with reporters about Gingrich, who is likely sharpening his own knives ahead of tonight’s GOP debate in Tampa.
