Washingtonpost news updates: Mitt Romney expands attack on Newt Gingrich, slamming work for health-care firms

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Mitt Romney expands attack on Newt Gingrich, slamming work for health-care firms

Mitt Romney expands attack on Newt Gingrich, slamming work for health-care firms - The Washington Post Print SubscriptionConversationsToday's PaperGoing Out GuideJobsCarsReal EstateRentalsClassifiedsHomePoliticsCampaign 2012CongressCourts &LawThe Fed PageHealth CarePollingWhite HouseBlogs & ColumnsIssues: EnergyTop Blogs

Election 2012 | Felicia SonmezThe Fix | Chris CillizzaFederal Eye | Ed O’KeefeFact Checker | Glenn KesslerOpinionsAll OpinionsPostPartisanLeft-LeaningRight-LeaningTolesCartoonsTelnaesAnimationsLocalColumnist IndexLocalDC: Politics| NewsMD: Politics| CommunitiesVA: Politics| CommunitiesCrimeEducationOn Faith/LocalObituariesTraffic & CommutingWeatherBlogs & ColumnsThe Root DCTop Blogs

Post NowThe BuzzCapital Weather GangDr. GridlockSportsRedskins/NFLCapitals/NHLWizards/NBANationals/MLBDC United/SoccerCollegesAllMetSportsOther SportsBlogs & ColumnsTop Blogs

The Insider| Mike JonesCapitals Insider| Katie CarreraWizards Insider | Michael LeeNationals Journal| Adam KilgoreNationalCorrectionsEnergy & EnvironmentHealth & ScienceHigher EducationNational SecurityOn FaithOn LeadershipInnovationsOn GivingBlogs & ColumnsTop Blogs

Ideas@InnovationsPost LeadershipUnder GodCheckpoint WashingtonWorldAfricaTheAmericasAsia &PacificEuropeMiddle EastNational SecurityWar ZonesSpecial ReportsCheckpoint WashingtonBusinessEconomyIndustriesLocal BusinessMarketsPolicy&RegulationTechnologyWorldBusinessBlogs & ColumnsInnovationsOn Small BusinessTop Blogs

Wonkblog | Ezra KleinPost Tech | Cecilia KangFaster ForwardWhere We LiveInvestigationsLifestyleAdviceCarolyn HaxFoodHome & GardenStyleTravelWeddingsWellnessMagazineKidsPostTop Blogs

Arts PostAll We Can EatReliable Source | Roxanne Roberts & Amy ArgetsingerOn Parenting | Janice D’ArcyEntertainmentBooksCelebritiesComicsGoing Out GuideHoroscopesMoviesMuseumsPuzzlesTheater & DanceTVTop Blogs

TV Column | Lisa de MoraesCelebritology | Jen ChaneyClick Track | Chris Richards & David MalitzComic Riffs | Michael CavnaMultimediaInnovationsPhotosVideosThe Washington PostMake us your start page

PersonalizeThe Washington PostCampaign 2012CongressCourts &LawThe Fed PageHealth CarePollingWhite HouseBlogs & ColumnsIssues: EnergyIn the NewsGPS tracking Black women in America Romney vs. Gingrich Federal worker Rand Paul ???initialComments:true! pubdate:01/23/2012 10:37 EST! commentPeriod:14! commentEndDate:2/6/12 10:37 EST! currentDate:1/23/12 1:0 EST! allowComments:true! displayComments:true!

Photos: China rings in the new year

Joe Paterno’s life and career

Squirrels, it’s your day

Celebrities born in the year of the dragon

Mitt Romney expands attack on Newt Gingrich, slamming work for health-care firms

View Photo Gallery — ?After what was widely considered an unfocused and bloated campaign in 2008, the Republican former Massachusetts governor is returning to the presidential sweepstakes with a more tightly knit team.

Text SizePrintE-mailReprints By Philip Rucker,

TAMPA – A combative Mitt Romney on Monday broadened his call for Newt Gingrich to release records from his work as a consultant, speculating that those documents and records from a House ethics investigation from his time as speaker could show “potentially wrongful activity of some kind.”

“We could see an October surprise a day from Newt Gingrich,” Romney told reporters at a media availability here. “And so let’s see the records from the ethics investigation, let’s see what they show. Let’s see who his clients were at the time he was lobbying Republican congressmen for Medicare Part D.

Comments

Weigh InCorrections?

Gallery

Through the eyes of the American voter:?Washington Post photographers take readers on the campaign trail.

Graphic

View the former House speaker’s 2010 federal tax return.

More on this Story

Read more on PostPoliticsRomney vs. Gingrich shows GOP uneaseIn Fla., Romney takes aim at resurgent GingrichFla. presents a different primary challengeView all Items in this Story

Florida primary forces GOP candidates to face the dreaded housing questionFor GOP in Fla., it’s boom burbs or bustMitt Romney to release tax returnsGingrich launches fund-raising, organizing blitzFive lessons from South CarolinaFlush with SC triumph, Gingrich calls himself best-equipped Republican to ‘shake up’ capitalRomney calls on Gingrich to release Freddie Mac records

“Was he working or were his entities working with any health-care companies that could’ve benefited from that? That could represent not just evidence of lobbying but potentially wrongful activity of some kind.”

Romney — who has come under fire for not releasing his tax returns, and has promised to do so Tuesday — also called on his surging rival to return the money he was paid by housing giant Freddie Mac.

He offered no evidence that he knew of wrongful activity by Gingrich. Nor did his advisers when pressed by reporters. The allegation was the latest sign that Romney is searching furiously for a way to blunt Gingrich’s momentum, coming after his surprise win Saturday in the South Carolina primary.

Romney and his campaign surrogates hope to place Gingrich on the defensive heading into Monday night’s NBC Republican presidential candidate debate here, and the Florida primary next Tuesday.

“He said in a debate, actually, that people who profited from the failed model of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae ought to give back their money,” Romney said. “Well, the speaker made $1.7 million in his enterprises from providing services to Freddie Mac. He ought to give it back.”

Campaign officials said Romney will air a television advertisement in Florida this week that attacks Gingrich over his ties with the housing giant. Titled “Florida Families,” the ad begins with a narrator saying, “While Florida families lost everything in the housing crisis, Newt Gingrich cashed in. Gingrich was paid over $1.6 million by the scandal-ridden agency that helped create the crisis.”?

The attack hits on a key vulnerability Gingrich among Republicans nationally, who have grown increasingly negative about Gingrich’s work since leaving elective office. Althouigh most approve of the job he did as House speaker, in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, 51 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents expressed unfavorable views of Gingrich’s work as a consultant for companies with interests in federal policymaking.

Among the most conservative, 55 percent have negative views, with the number holding “strongly unfavorable” views up 11 points from mid-December to mid-January.

Romney is trying to regain ground in the volatile GOP nominating contest, after watching his 23-point lead in national Gallup tracking polls a week ago shrink to a tenuous five-point edge over Gingrich among Republican-leaning registered voters. Thirty percent of respondents in the latest national polls said they would vote for the former Massachusetts governor; 25 percent backed Gingrich.

Continued12Next Page

EmailTumblrRedditStumbleuponDiggDeliciousWeigh InDiscussion PolicyAbout Discussions, Badges Newest firstOldest firstMost Recommended first SuperFan Badge

SuperFan badge holders consistently post smart, timely comments about Washington area sports and teams.