It was a line he also delivered on Fox News and MSNBC, complete with the word “hell,’’ in response to Gingrich’s complaints about the tenor of the campaign. Romney, a Mormon, had previously been known to express the underworld as “H-E-double-hockey-sticks.’’
Gingrich, speaking in Manchester, responded by challenging Romney to a one-on-one debate next week in Iowa. “Ask Governor Romney, would he like to come and play in the kitchen?’’ Gingrich said. “I don’t think he wants to do anything but hide over here and pretend it’s not his fault that he’s flooding the people of Iowa with falsehoods.’’
With less than three weeks until the primary here, both campaigns are intensifying efforts to win the undecided votes. For Gingrich, who has only recently been consistently campaigning in the state, a strong showing here could catapult him into the following primaries of South Carolina and Florida.
No state is more important to Romney than New Hampshire, where he has spent more time campaigning than any other.
A strong win here is considered crucial to building momentum.
But much of the advertising pummeling Gingrich has been in Iowa, where voters head to caucuses on Jan. 3. Restore Our Future, an independent political action committee run by Romney supporters, has spent millions of dollars on ads targeting Gingrich.
This type of group, called a super-PAC, has no limits on campaign donations, although they are not allowed to coordinate with the campaigns.
Some campaign watchers partially attribute a softening of support for Gingrich to the ability of those ads to sow doubt among Iowans.
Gingrich called on Romney yesterday to “disown’’ the PAC.
“For him to stand to one side and say ‘Oh gosh, I don’t have any influence over my former staff and I don’t have any influence over my millionaire friends who wrote the big checks,’ it’s just not honest,’’ Gingrich said.
