Mitt Romney expands attack on Newt Gingrich, slamming work for health-care firms

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-calls-on-newt-gingrich-to-release-freddie-mac-records-says-wrongful-activity-possible/2012/01/23/gIQA6tC2KQ_story.html

“We could see an October surprise a day from Newt Gingrich,” Romney told reporters at a media availability here. “And so let’s see the records from the ethics investigation, let’s see what they show. Let’s see who his clients were at the time he was lobbying Republican congressmen for Medicare Part D....



“He said in a debate, actually, that people who profited from the failed model of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae ought to give back their money,” Romney said. “Well, the speaker made $1.7 million in his enterprises from providing services to Freddie Mac. He ought to give it back.”

Campaign officials said Romney will air a television advertisement in Florida this week that attacks Gingrich over his ties with the housing giant. Titled “Florida Families,” the ad begins with a narrator saying, “While Florida families lost everything in the housing crisis, Newt Gingrich cashed in. Gingrich was paid over $1.6 million by the scandal-ridden agency that helped create the crisis.”?

The attack hits on a key vulnerability Gingrich among Republicans nationally, who have grown increasingly negative about Gingrich’s work since leaving elective office. Althouigh most approve of the job he did as House speaker, in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, 51 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents expressed unfavorable views of Gingrich’s work as a consultant for companies with interests in federal policymaking.