Gingrich tried to avoid responding directly to the attacks, calling them “the worst kind of trivial politics.’’ But Romney succeeded in drawing Gingrich into the fray, forcing him, for example, to address the vote his House colleagues took to reprimand him for an ethics violation and his postcongressional work as a consultant for mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
“You can call it whatever you’d like. I call it influence peddling. It is not right. It is not right,’’ Romney said. “You’ve spent now 15 years in Washington, on K Street. And this is a real problem if we’re going to nominate someone who not only had a record of great distress as the speaker but has worked for 15 years lobbying.’’
Gingrich called the charges “defamatory and factually false,’’ and declared, “I’m not going to spend the evening trying to chase Governor Romney’s misinformation.’’ But under repeated assaults from Romney, he was forced to address the biggest black mark on his record in Congress and his controversial consulting work, moments that delighted Romney’s aides.
Romney’s attacks showed how Gingrich has become the main target since his upset victory in South Carolina gave him momentum heading into the Florida primary on Jan. 31. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum were largely sidelined in the debate, and did not even speak for the first 10 minutes.
Both of them insisted, however, that they remain viable challengers for the nomination.
Santorum pointed out that the race has been highly volatile, with front-runners soaring and crashing for months. “If you’ve learned anything about this election, it’s that any type of prediction is going to be wrong,’’ he said.
Paul, as he has in the past, said he had no intention of launching an independent bid for the presidency, but would not rule it out. “I don’t want to,’’ he said. “But I haven’t been an absolutist.’’
