The Villages, Fla.

At a rally Sunday afternoon in this planned retirement and golfing community, Newt Gingrich drew a line in the sand trap. “I am, in fact, the legitimate heir of the Reagan movement,” Gingrich said. “Not some liberal from Massachusetts.”

It was his strongest rhetorical indictment yet of his GOP opponent, Mitt Romney, who had heretofore been referred to as simply a “Massachusetts moderate.” Earlier in the day, Gingrich told reporters that the Republican party would not nominate a “pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase moderate from Massachusetts.” Spokesman R.C. Hammond says the change in rhetoric is just Gingrich acknowledging the facts. “We keep learning more about his record,” he says. “A vote for [Paul] Tsongas moves you from middle to left.” Perhaps the change indicates Gingrich is doubling down on distinguishing himself as the conservative alternative to Romney.