ORLANDO, Fla — With Florida's pivotal Republican primary four days away, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich spent Saturday dueling across the state, trying to convince voters their opponent is unfit to be president.
Romney, who has built a commanding Florida lead, released a scathing new ad reminding voters how the House of Representatives overwhelmingly reprimanded Gingrich for ethical lapses while he was speaker.
The ad features Tom Brokaw, then the anchorman of ”NBC Nightly News,“ delivering the news 15 years ago about the extraordinary House rebuke.
NBC's legal department, though, asked the campaign on Saturday to remove NBC News content from the ad. And Brokaw, in a statement, said he was ”extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign.“
The Romney campaign said it has not yet been formally notified of the request.
In the ad, a note appears under Brokaw's image saying the spot is paid for by the campaign and approved by Mitt Romney.
Gingrich's campaign fought back Saturday, calling the ad ”false,“ labeling Romney ”dishonest,“ and vowing to ”go all the way to the convention,“ regardless of the Florida result.
”I expect to win the nomination,“ Gingrich told reporters after a rally in Port St. Lucie. ”Why don't you ask Gov. Romney what he is going to do if he loses, since he is behind in both national polls.“
Gingrich won the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary, and Gallup found he led Romney among Republicans by six percentage points in its Jan. 23-27 poll. He was up nine percentage points in an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll taken earlier in the week, before Thursday night's debate.
Gingrich suggested he could have done better in the debates.
”You cannot debate somebody who is dishonest. You just can't,“ he said of Romney.
Later Saturday, Gingrich spoke to a sparse crowd at the Centro de la Familia Cristiana (Christian Family Center) in Orlando, where about 420 of the roughly 480 seats went empty.
Hosts asked people to move to the front rows and center seats to fill in the hall, as Gingrich arrived 55 minutes late. He dropped a planned town hall format after less than seven minutes of remarks to mingle and pose for pictures.
”My competitor on Tuesday has money power,“ Gingrich said of Romney, explaining why he was changing the format of the event.
”There's no question he can raise more money from Wall Street than I can. And he has big institutions pouring money in here. What I want to do is have people power,“ he said, urging people to ”go out on Facebook and on YouTube and on Twitter and email, even by telephone and talk to people face to face.“
He did find some support.
”If anybody knows how Congress works, knows how the system works, it's Newt,“ said James Baumann, an accountant from Groveland. ”Romney reflects the political establishment. He is party line.“
Romney spent his day in Florida's panhandle. At a rally in Panama City he spent most of his time rhetorically going after President Obama. But he reserved some of his toughest talk for Gingrich. Romney pointed out that Gingrich likes to often mention that he's an historian. ”But,“ Romney said, ”that doesn't give him the right to re-write history.“
Gingrich was ”given the opportunity to lead our party. We elected him … you're right, he failed,“ Romney said. ”We took over the House .,. that was great news.“
”What happened four years later?“ Romney added. ”Well, he was fined for ethics violations. He ultimately had to resign in disgrace. He can't rewrite history.“
Gingrich stepped down as speaker after Republicans did not fare as well as hoped in the 1998 elections.
Saturday was the last day for early voting in the state, and as many as 275,000 of the state's estimated 2 million GOP primary voters are expected to cast ballots.
Romney has made a strong effort to get supporters to the polls. He ran television ads long before anyone else, and his organization has kept in touch with voters, reminding them where to vote.
Magda Dube, 48, a business owner from Miami Lakes, voted for Romney.
”I don't like the fact that he got money from Freddie Mac. Seems a little hypocritical,“ she said of Gingrich. ”Romney managed to be successful … he's proven and his father has a political background.“
George Romney was governor of Michigan in the 1960s.
Dube was not a Romney supporter at the beginning of the campaign. Her early pick: Herman Cain, who suspended his campaign after sexual harassment allegations.”
“He had charisma and was a strong businessman who proved himself,” she said.
E-Mail
Print
Get The State newspaper delivered to your home. 
