Newt Gingrich: Romney ‘carpet-bombing’ opponents

Newt Gingrich escalated the negative campaigning between himself and GOP rival Mitt Romneyon Sunday, scrambling to blunt the Massachusetts governor’s momentum two days before the Florida primary.

Gingrich, trailing Romney in polls released Sunday, repeated his claim that Romney is a liar and vowed to stay in the race until the end as he
Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich (L) speaks to a supporter as he arrives at Idlewild Baptist Church in Florida on Sunday. (STAN HONDA - AFP/Getty Images) tried to cut into the former Massachusetts governor’s lead.

“I don’t know how you debate a person with civility if they’re prepared to say things that are just plain factually false,” Gingrich said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”

Gingrich, who won the endorsement of former candidate Herman Cain over the weekend, said “the conservatives are clearly rejecting Romney” and claimed the mantle as the race’s true conservative candidate.

Gingrich also renewed his complaints about the Romney campaign’s negative attacks on him, financed by what Gingrich called wealthy backers from Wall Street investment banks.

“He has a basic policy of carpet-bombing his opponents,” Gingrich said on ‘Fox News Sunday,” conceding that he might lose the Florida contest.

But, speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” he presented himself as the true conservative candidate in the GOP primary race, saying conservatives “are clearly rejecting Romney.” He pledged that the race would “go on all the way to the convention.”

“We’re seeing the conservative moment start to come together,” Gingrich said on Fox. “I think it’s going to be very close. We have tremendous effort under way to reach out to the conservatives.”

Texas Rep. Ron Paul has invested little in the Florida contest and campaigned over the weekend in Maine, which holds caucuses next Saturday. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, he vowed to stay in the race despite his focus on small caucus states.

“We’re going to stay in and see what comes of it,” Paul said, acknowledging that his campaign has less money than some of his rivals.

“It is a rough road competing with establishment money,” he said.

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Puerto Rico governor Fortuño endorses Romney

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño, one of the Republican Party’s rising stars, is endorsing Mitt Romney for president here Friday, potentially giving a boost to the former Massachusetts governor’s efforts to court Hispanic Republicans in the critical Florida primary.

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (Charles Dharapak - Associated Press)

Fortuño plans to campaign with Romney at a Friday evening rally in Orlando, where he will make his endorsement official, according to a Romney campaign aide.

In a statement, Fortuño said: “Mitt Romney is the one candidate who has the record, leadership, experience and pro-growth plan to continue the course of private-sector job creation we’ve begun in Puerto Rico and provide economic stability for generations. Mitt Romney has shown throughout his life that the principles learned in the private sector can be applied to all challenges, whether it was saving the 2002 Olympics or balancing the budget as governor.”

Fortuño, 51, was elected governor in 2008 and is a member of the Republican National Committee. Born in Puerto Rico, Fortuño earned degrees at Georgetown University and the University of Virginia School of Law before returning to Puerto Rico to launch a political career. He is considered one of the GOP’s most promising Hispanic leaders.

Puerto Rico is among several U.S. territories that award convention delegates in the Republican nominating contest. Puerto Rico’s primary is tentatively scheduled for March 18, and Fortuño’s backing could help Romney win votes there.

Romney, in a statement, said: “I look forward to working with Governor Fortuño on the issues most pressing for the people of Puerto Rico — job creation, public safety and resolving the Island’s 113-year political status question. Every job created on the Island is another American job added to our nation’s economic comeback.”

In a speech Friday at the Hispanic Leadership Network in Miami, Romney gave Fortuño a shout-out, noting that he is “passionate about statehood.” Romney seemed to embrace Puerto Rico’s statehood initiative, saying: “I’m looking forward to the time when the people of Puerto Rico make their decision about becoming a state.”

“I expect the people of Puerto Rico will decide, like [Fortuño] feels, that they want to become a state, and I can tell you that I will work with him to make sure that if that vote comes out in favor of statehood, that we will go through the process in Washington to provide statehood to Puerto Rico and, again, to create a model in the Caribbean — one more model in Latin American of the benefits of having freedom,” Romney said.

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Mitt Romney makes forceful bid for Fla. Latino vote

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks to the Hispanic Leadership Network in Miami on Friday. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

MIAMI – Mitt Romney forcefully reached out to Hispanic Republicans here Friday, saying he would champion political and economic freedom in Cuba and throughout Latin America.

Trying to woo Florida’s influential bloc of Cuban American and other Hispanic Republican voters days before the state’s critical primary, Romney promoted his immigration and foreign policy agenda. He used particularly tough language to describe his stance against Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

“There is a time coming soon where Cuba will be free. That’s gonna happen,” Romney said. “But we’re gonna have to get organized for it. We’re gonna have to recognize that people there want freedom, as people do all over the world, and America can’t sit back.” He drew a loud, standing ovation from a crowd of several hundred at the Hispanic Leadership Network’s conference in Miami.

Romney accused President Obama of standing idly by through the Arab Spring last year and said: “I will not only say something when Fidel Castro finally leaves this earth. I will do something. I will be behind the voices of freedom here and the voices of freedom there. We will help Cuba become free.”

If elected president, Romney said he would appoint an envoy responsible for democracy and freedom in Latin America, who would measure progress of each nation reaching toward freedom and help keep nations from “falling in line behind Chavez and Castro.”

Romney and his surrogates here tried to soften his image before Hispanic voters after some of his debate comments last fall – and critiques from his opponents, including former House speaker Newt Gingrich – presented him as a hard-liner.

Former senator Norm Coleman introduced the former Massachusetts governor by calling him, “Mi amigo, Mitt Romney.” Romney came on stage with his wife, Ann, and their youngest of five sons, Craig, who spent several years in Chile and speaks Spanish.

“Muchas gracias, papa,” Craig said as he briefly stood at the lectern. He went on to say that his father would be “presidente excelente.” And then Craig held up his young son, Parker, who told the amused crowd: “Hola.”

“I want to protect legal immigration,” Mitt Romney said. “I would like to expand legal immigration. … We are not anti-immigrant. We are not anti-immigration. We are the pro-immigration, pro-legality, pro-citizenship nation and party.”

In his roughly 20-minute speech, Romney did not mention Gingrich at all, even though the former speaker had addressed the same audience less than an hour beforehand. But in her remarks, Romney’s wife, Ann, seemed to draw a subtle contrast with Gingrich, going further and speaking with more urgency than she usually does on the stump.

“What needs to be done needs to be done by someone that knows how to do it,” Ann Romney said. “You can’t have someone turn something around if they’ve never turned around anything before. You can’t have someone run an organization if they’ve never run an organization before. We tried that the last time with someone that didn’t have any experience, and how is that working?”

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Romney accuses Gingrich of pandering to Florida’s Latino voters on immigration

MIAMI — Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney accused his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich, of pandering to Florida’s Latino voters by mocking Romney’s stance on immigration in an appearance earlier Wednesday.

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney takes the stage at Univision's "Meet the Candidates" forum in Miami, Jan. 25, 2012. (Brian Snyder - Reuters)

Romney struck back at Gingrich on a day when both candidates spent much of the day in Miami, speaking at events designed to appeal to the state’s large Latino community.

Romney spoke at the same candidate forum sponsored by Univision television where Gingrich had earlier in the day accused Romney of living in a “fantasy land” for suggesting in a debate last week that illegal immigrants would “self deport” — voluntarily return to their home countries — if the United States made it difficult enough for them to get work in this country.

“Unfortunately for him, these are things he’s already spoken out about, and he’s spoken out about in favor,” Romney said, referring to an earlier comment from Gingrich’s spokesman that also suggested that immigrants might “self-deport.”

“Now, I recognized that that it’s very tempting to come into an audience like this and to pander to the audience and say what you hope people will want to hear,” Romney told Univision host Jorge Ramos. “But frankly, I think that’s unbecoming of a presidential candidate.”

On Wednesday, Romney’s campaign released a new Spanish language ad, in which he accused Gingrich of not being the Reagan conservative he claims. The ad criticizes Gingrich for a consulting contract with Freddie Mac and indicating he would not reverse an Obama policy allowing easier travel to Cuba for family members of Cubans.

“Reagan definitely would have never offended us, Hispanics, as Gingrich did by saying that Spanish is the language of the ghetto,” the ad concludes, referring to a 2007 remark by Gingrich for which he later apologized.

The back-and-forth was a demonstration of the importance of the growing Hispanic vote and particularly the Cuban-American community, traditionally a key Republican constituency in Florida.

Like Gingrich earlier in the day, Romney offered tough talk against Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro at a speech organized by the US-Cuba Democracy PAC.

“If I’m fortunate enough to become the next president of the United States, it is my expectation that Fidel Castro will finally be taken off this planet,” Romney said. “We have to be prepared. This is the time, in the next president’s first or second term, it is time for us to strike for freedom in Cuba, and I will do so as president.”

Romney also promised to create a new office to improve trade with Latin America, and at the Univision forum, joked with Ramos about his own roots.

“I don’t think people would think I was being honest with them if I said to them I was Mexican American,” Romney said in response to about whether he could claim the title because his American father was born in Mexico. “But I would appreciate it if you’d get that word out.”

But under tougher questioning from Jorge Ramos, Romney insisted that he is not “anti-immigrant” — as Gingrich has suggested — and nor does he have no compassion for those who come here illegally, particularly children who are brought to this country illegally by their parents.

He did not budge from his opposition, however, to allowing any illegal immigrants a new path to legal residency — as Gingrich supports for some longtime residents.

“You severely sanction employers who hire people who have not legal documentation and legal basis to be here. On that basis over time people will find it less attractive to be here, if they can’t find work here,” he said, explaining his position. “Some refer to that as self-deportation. and what it says is that I’m not in favor of going around the country, trying to round people up and put them in buses and take them across the border.”

He also did not back off his opposition to the Dream Act, which would allow some such children a path to citizenship through college.

“I’m not punishing her,” Romney said, when asked by Ramos why he would punish a 10-year-old girl from Peru who wants to go college and cannot afford it. “She can go to college. There’s no requirement that she goes to a college that provides an instate tuition break….There are many colleges in the United States and there are some that are relatively inexpensive. One can go to a college that’s not as expensive as others.

I’m not sure what the price is here in Miami-Dade, but my guess is it’s not terribly exorbitant.”

Those comments injected a touch of awkwardness into the exchange, as they came not long after Romney faced pointed questions from Ramos about his own personal wealth.

“How much money do you have?” Ramos asked him point blank.

“You tell me, and I’ll tell you,” Romney at first joked, before acknowledging that as a presidential candidate, he was required months ago to disclose information about his finances.

“I think the estimate in there is a pretty wide range, it’s been widely reported. My net worth is within that number,” Romney said.

When Ramos pressed him again, he acknowledged: “It’s between 150 and about 200 and some odd million dollars. I think that’s what the estimates are.”

While the figures have been widely reported — Romney reported in his August financial disclosure that his net worth is between $190 and $250 million — but it’s unusual to hear Romney himself peg his personal fortune. He went on to note that he didn’t inherit money from his parents but instead earned it through his own business success.

He also defended his tax rate — less than 15 percent — a low rate possible because most of his money in the last two years came through investments, which are taxed at a lower rate than wages.

“One of the reasons that we have a lower tax rate on capital gains, is that capital gains are also being taxed at the corporate level, so as businesses earn profits, that’s being taxed at 35 percent,” he said, before pivoting to an explanation of his own tax plan, under which those who make less than $200,000 would pay no taxes on their own investments.

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Would Mitt Romney be the richest president ever?

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Mitt Romney is rich; this much we know.

But would he be the richest president ever?

In terms of raw dollars, yes. If you adjust for inflation, though, the answer is no.

In fact, the wealthiest president appears to have been one of the nation’s most beloved Commanders in Chief and the nation’s first president, George Washington.

Multiple studies have estimated Washington’s net worth, in today’s dollars, at more than $500 million, due in large part to his Virginia plantation at Mount Vernon being so vast and so fertile.

A 1996 book by two economists also ranked Washington among the wealthiest 100 Americans of all-time, noting that his net worth, which stood at about half a million dollars at the time of his death in 1799, would be worth about half a billion dollars today. Washington is the only president who made the “Wealthy 100” list.

Romney, whose net worth is estimated at between $190 and $250 million, just can’t compete with that. So where does he rank?

Probably either second or third, depending on whether his actual net worth is closer to $190 million or $250 million.

Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president, was worth an estimated $212 million, according to a study by the Web site 24/7 Wall St., so he and Romney are pretty close.

(Interesting fact: John F. Kennedy stood to inherit his father’s $1 billion fortune, but he didn’t live long enough.)

So while Romney wouldn’t be the wealthiest president, he would be the wealthiest president in more than 200 years. In fact, presidents over the course of history have gotten progressively poorer. The 24/7 Wall St. study shows each of the first eight presidents were worth at least $19 million, adjusted for inflation. Relatively speaking, Barack Obama is struggling to get by with a net worth of between $2.8 million and $11.8 million.

So, back to Romney. Given that Washington was not nominated by a party, the question is whether Romney would be the wealthiest major party presidential nominee.

The answer: probably not.

Romney is definitely not the wealthiest presidential candidate of all time. That distinction appears to belong to billionaire Ross Perot, who ran as a third-party candidate in both 1992 and 1996. Businessman Steve Forbes, who ran in the 2000 GOP primary, also has Romney beat, with a net worth of $450 million, according to a study by Wealth X.

As for major-party nominees, Romney also probably comes in behind 2004 Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), whose net worth in his 2004 personal financial disclosure report was estimated at between $237 million and $312 million. (And Kerry’s wife, Theresa Heinz Kerry, is worth much more than that — as much as $1 billion.)

So unless Romney is at the very top of his estimated range and Kerry was at the very bottom of his, Kerry was wealthier at the time that he ran for president. And if you include Kerry’s wife, it’s not even close.

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Romney offers tough review of Obama’s State of the Union speech

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Romney offers tough review of Obama’s State of the Union speechView 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 Rosalind S. Helderman and Sandhya Somashekher,

ORLANDO — Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney offered a tough review Wednesday of President Obama’s State of the Union speech, accusing him of being “detached” from the realities of a still lagging economy.

“The detachment between reality and what he says is so extraordinary, I was just shaking my head at the TV last night,” Romney told about 150 supporters gathered on the concrete floor of a metal fabrication factory here as he campaigned ahead of Florida’s Jan. 31 GOP primary.

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“This is a president who talks about deregulation, even as he regulates. Who talks about lowering taxes, even as he raises them. Who talks about expanding energy resources, even as he tries to shut them down,” Romney said.

The candidate for the Republican presidential nomination used the word “detached” repeatedly to describe the president’s attitude, picking up on a critique of Obama that he sometimes can appear aloof.

Romney, whose personal wealth has been on display this week after he released his tax records, did not address a central argument of Obama’s address — that economic fairness demands that wealthier Americans pay more to help stabilize the economy and reduce the debt. Instead, he argued that Obama’s policies are not doing enough to reverse the squeeze on the middle class.

“If you really think things are going well in this country and we’re on the right track, that his policies are working, you ought to vote for him,” he said. “But I think, on that basis, if we ask the American people if they think things are going well or not so well ... he’s not going to be president very long.”

One of Romney’s rivals for the nomination, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, tried to turn Obama’s theme to his own advantage as he campaigned in Florida.

Santorum, speaking to a crowd of about 250 people at First Baptist Church in Naples said that he was “very excited about the President’s speech last night.” His comment drew laughs from the conservative Christian crowd, leading Santorum to say that he “actually was” glad to hear Obama’s message, because it dovetails with his own.

“The president of the United States made the case for Rick Santorum for being the nominee of the Republican party,” he said as the audience applauded. “What did the president lead with? ... What was the first voter group he went after, the one he spent the most time on, the one he was going to do the most to try to help? Manufacturing, blue collar workers.

“Who’s been running their campaign for president here on the Republican side of the aisle, saying we need to focus on upward mobility? We need to focus on small town and blue collar America to create the ladder of success through manufacturing jobs to be able to rise is society again,” Santorum said. A few audience members shouted “Santorum!” and “Rick!”

Romney’s and Santorum’s responses to Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night were among an array of reactions from conservative critics, whose divergent responses mirrored the fractures on display this year in a bruising Republican presidential primary campaign.

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Mitt Romney tax returns make him a personal embodiment of GOP tax policy

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Mitt Romney tax returns make him a personal embodiment of GOP tax policyView 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 Lori Montgomery and Jia Lynn Yang,

With the release of his tax returns Tuesday, Mitt Romney has emerged as Exhibit A in a political battle likely to define the 2012 election: how to tax the rich.

To Democrats, Romney is benefiting from an unfair tax code that permits a man who made nearly $21 million last year to pay just 15 percent in federal taxes. In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Obama said those earning more than $1 million a year can afford to pay more and should send at least 30 percent of their income to Washington.

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“You can call this class warfare all you want,” Obama said. “But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”

To Republicans, Romney is an exemplar of the capitalist system, a wealthy man who propels the economy through successful investments. Many of them think he should pay even less to the federal government. Indeed, Newt Gingrich, Romney’s chief rival for the GOP presidential nomination, has proposed eliminating taxes on investment income altogether — a move that would push Romney’s tax rate near zero.

This ideological divide has shaped the parties’ competing visions for how to heal the wounded economy, plans that are typically unfurled on the campaign trail with vague promises and glossy platitudes. Romney’s tax returns put a face on the competing proposals, offering a real-life example of their consequences.

Although he defended his tax payments as “entirely legal and fair,” Romney signaled unease with the direction that many in his party are taking in suggesting he pay less. During a debate Monday in Tampa, Romney noted that “I’d have paid no taxes in the last two years” under Gingrich’s tax proposals.

Stuart Stevens, a senior adviser for Romney, picked up that theme Tuesday, arguing that Gingrich’s proposal favors the wealthy over the middle class. “Speaker Gingrich has a tax plan where someone like Governor Romney wouldn’t pay anything in taxes,” Stevens said. “Governor Romney thinks that’s unfair.”

The debate over Romney’s tax rate comes as Democrats are ramping up an election-year argument that the wealthy should pay more to help finance government services and close a yawning budget deficit. In a time of rising income inequality, when the rich are reaping an expanding share of the nation’s wealth and middle-class wages have stagnated, Obama said Tuesday that the rich must shoulder a greater share of the economic burden.

Obama has called for a rewrite of the tax code that would raise the top tax rate on earned income. On Tuesday, the White House said the president would call on Congress to wipe out lucrative tax breaks on mortgage interest, health insurance and retirement savings for those who earn more than $1 million a year.

If that doesn’t do the trick, White House officials said Obama would implement a rule that would explicitly require millionaires to send at least 30 percent of their income to Washington, although they provided few details about how that would be accomplished.

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