Mitt Romney said Saturday’s South Carolina presidential contest “could be real close” and he agreed to two more debates with his rivals ahead of the Florida primary.
In the face of questions about releasing his tax returns and struggling with a renewed threat from Newt Gingrich, Romney lashed out at the former speaker, calling on the former House speaker to better explain his contractual ties to Freddie Mac, the quasi-government mortgage company. Gingrich served as a consultant to Freddie Mac over a period of eight years.
Romney said he would attend a debate Monday in Tampa, Fla., and his campaign confirmed he would be at one Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla., ahead of the state’s primary Jan. 31. His planned appearances are an acknowledgment that the former Massachusetts governor will have to continue the battle with Gingrich longer than expected or hoped.
But Romney avoided confronting Gingrich, his chief rival in South Carolina’s first-in-the South vote, at a stop at Tommy’s Country Ham House.
Gingrich’s response to Marianne Gingrich’s charge that her former husband sought an “open marriage” in order to continue an affair with the woman who would become his third wife – deny it outright and blast the media for its “destructive, vicious, negative nature” – clearly is working, according to this poll.
Just 14 percent of likely South Carolina GOP primary voters have a generally favorable opinion of the media, while 77 percent view it negatively.
Other surveys have found similar results – especially when the episode happened years ago.
A Monitor/TIPP poll taken in December shows that the more distant the infidelity, the less the public cares about it.
Asked “How important is marital fidelity to you in choosing a presidential candidate?” 52 percent said “important” (27 percent “very important”), and another 26 percent said “somewhat important.” Among Republicans, the total saying the issue was at least somewhat important was 87 percent.
But asked to “rate how you would weigh a presidential candidate's infidelity if the affair occurred 10 years ago,” the numbers shifted significantly. Only 28 percent said “extremely” or “very” important, and that number was actually lower for Republicans (26 percent). For 42 percent of those surveyed, any infidelity that long ago – which is the case with Gingrich – was viewed as “not very important” or “not important at all.”
“Newt Gingrich looks like the clear favorite now in tomorrow’s primary,” Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, said Friday. “There was a thought that his ex-wife’s interview could stop his momentum in South Carolina, but instead it seems to have reinforced his support. He’s winning with all the key groups that determine the winners and losers in Palmetto state GOP politics.”
In the face of questions about releasing his tax returns and struggling with a renewed threat from Newt Gingrich, Romney lashed out at the former speaker, calling on the former House speaker to better explain his contractual ties to Freddie Mac, the quasi-government mortgage company. Gingrich served as a consultant to Freddie Mac over a period of eight years.
Romney said he would attend a debate Monday in Tampa, Fla., and his campaign confirmed he would be at one Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla., ahead of the state’s primary Jan. 31. His planned appearances are an acknowledgment that the former Massachusetts governor will have to continue the battle with Gingrich longer than expected or hoped.
But Romney avoided confronting Gingrich, his chief rival in South Carolina’s first-in-the South vote, at a stop at Tommy’s Country Ham House.
Gingrich’s response to Marianne Gingrich’s charge that her former husband sought an “open marriage” in order to continue an affair with the woman who would become his third wife – deny it outright and blast the media for its “destructive, vicious, negative nature” – clearly is working, according to this poll.
Just 14 percent of likely South Carolina GOP primary voters have a generally favorable opinion of the media, while 77 percent view it negatively.
Other surveys have found similar results – especially when the episode happened years ago.
A Monitor/TIPP poll taken in December shows that the more distant the infidelity, the less the public cares about it.
Asked “How important is marital fidelity to you in choosing a presidential candidate?” 52 percent said “important” (27 percent “very important”), and another 26 percent said “somewhat important.” Among Republicans, the total saying the issue was at least somewhat important was 87 percent.
But asked to “rate how you would weigh a presidential candidate's infidelity if the affair occurred 10 years ago,” the numbers shifted significantly. Only 28 percent said “extremely” or “very” important, and that number was actually lower for Republicans (26 percent). For 42 percent of those surveyed, any infidelity that long ago – which is the case with Gingrich – was viewed as “not very important” or “not important at all.”
“Newt Gingrich looks like the clear favorite now in tomorrow’s primary,” Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, said Friday. “There was a thought that his ex-wife’s interview could stop his momentum in South Carolina, but instead it seems to have reinforced his support. He’s winning with all the key groups that determine the winners and losers in Palmetto state GOP politics.”
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