Newt Gingrich insisted Wednesday night that his campaign is taking the moral high ground. He then proceeded to bash Republican presidential opponent Mitt Romney during a short campaign stop near his Northern Virginia home.
Appearing with wife Callista, the former House Speaker thanked his campaign volunteers for their last-minute push to get him on the primary election ballot in his home state of Virginia, a state with challenging ballot requirements and a battleground that has grown increasingly important in the weeks leading up to the GOP primary. He then went after Romney, who Gingrich said was running a negative campaign fueled by wealthy donors, a friendly Super PAC and attack ads.
Without naming Romney, Gingrich laughed off “one competitor who has been running for about six years,” and said Romney’s campaign “doesn’t have something positive they can get elected on, they shouldn’t be running.” Gingrich, who led the 1994 Republican takeover of the House, continued to paint the former Massachusetts governor as a “national politician” with lots of money.
Gingrich, who started the day in New Hampshire, spent the rest of his evening posing for pictures with – and signing autographs for – nearly 100 supporters, who turned out at the Key Bridge Marriott in Arlington.
Organizers collected petitions and signatures hoping to shore up the campaign’s efforts to get on Virginia’s ballot.
Virginia, which votes as part of the March 6 Super Tuesday primaries, requires candidates to gather 10,000 signatures on petitions to qualify for the ballot, including 400 from each of the state’s 11 congressional districts.
After previously voicing concern about the campaign’s ability to reach the high threshold, Gingrich’s staff said late Wednesday that they have just about 10,000 signatures but will be adding more before Thursday’s 5 p.m. deadline.
Romney has already filed his petitions with Virginia’s State Board of Elections, the only candidiate to do so by late Wednesday.
Gingrich is holding another petition-gathering rally Thursday afternoon in Richmond prior to turning the signatures over to the State Board of Elections.
“Once again in Virginia we’re going to disappoint the Republican establishment because tomorrow in Richmond we’re going to turn in vastly more signatures than we need,” Gingrich said.
