Gingrich sought an open marriage after affair, claims ex-wife

NEWT GINGRICH may have won the endorsement of Texas Governor Rick Perry, but his second ex-wife, Marianne, told Americans last night her former husband sought an open marriage and was conning the electorate.

Perry abandoned his presidential bid before tomorrow’s pivotal South Carolina primary.

“I know when it’s time to make a strategic retreat,” Perry told a news conference.

He called Gingrich “a conservative visionary who can transform our country” and added, “Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?”

Marianne Gingrich might well agree. The self-described conservative Republican spoke last night of how the presidential hopeful sought an “open marriage” arrangement so he could have a mistress and a wife.

The interview could hurt Gingrich in South Carolina, where religious and cultural conservatives are a big part of the Republican base.

She said when Gingrich admitted to a six-year affair with a Congressional aide, he asked her if she would share him with the other woman, Callista, who is now married to Gingrich.

“And I just stared at him and he said, ‘Callista doesn’t care what I do,’” Marianne told ABC News. “He wanted an open marriage and I refused.”

She said his campaign positions on the sanctity of marriage and the importance of family values do not square with what she saw during their 18 years of marriage.

Marianne described her “shock” at Gingrich’s behaviour, including how she learned he conducted his affair with Callista “in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington.”

“He always called me at night,” she recalled, “and always ended with ‘I love you.’ Well, she was listening.”

All this happened, she said, during the same time Gingrich condemned president Bill Clinton for his lack of moral leadership.

She said Newt moved for divorce just months after she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Gingrich divorced his first wife, Jackie, as she was being treated for cancer.

Newt Gingrich made no comment on the interview.

Meanwhile, Perry dropped out of the race to compel conservative voters, whose support has been divided among several conservative candidates, to rally behind Gingrich in the hope of stopping front-runner Mitt Romney.

Recent polls show Gingrich gaining steam heading into tomorrow’s contest, but he still trails Romney by about 10 percentage points.

Romney has benefited from having several challengers who are considered more conservative than him competing for the same segment of voters.

Perry’s decision to endorse Gingrich does not necessarily mean conservatives will rally to him.

Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, a champion of the anti-abortion issue, won the Iowa primary by 34 votes and has secured the backing of evangelical Christian leaders