Gingrich sees huge surge in donations
His campaign team said he had raised more than a million dollars in just hours — money that is much needed as the primary battle moves into Florida.
The former speaker of the House of Representatives ravaged the sense of inevitability surrounding Romney’s run for the nomination with a 12% defeat of the former Massachusetts governor in Saturday’s South Carolina primary.
The next contest, in the far larger and more diverse state of Florida on January 31, will require huge spending on television advertising and Gingrich has been under-funded so far.
His sudden rise of fortunes has relied on the free media attention he has gained through stellar televised debate performances, particularly last Thursday.
He roundly attacked what he termed the “elite” media and political class, then went on to trounce the patrician Romney, a former venture capitalist whose wealth is estimated at up to $250 million.
Gingrich took pleasure in the discomfort he is causing among the Republican establishment that backs Romney.
“I think you’re going to see the establishment go crazy in the next week or two,” he told ABC.
Gingrich moves towards the Florida primary vote claiming that he, not Romney, is the candidate best able to deny Barack Obama a second term in the White House in the November election.
The Gingrich campaign said he is using the influx of money to hire additional staff and to open new offices in Florida, a key swing state.
Romney has responded to his drubbing in South Carolina, where until just days ago he was expected to win and seal the Republican nomination as the inevitable candidate, by attacking Gingrich.
“He had to resign in disgrace. I don’t know whether you knew that,” Romney said of Gingrich’s time as House speaker in the 1990s.
Gingrich was given an ethics reprimand by the lower congressional chamber. He also carries the baggage of three marriages and acknowledged marital infidelities, facts that should deny him the support of the evangelical Christian base of the Republican party.
However, those voters clearly overlooked his past in South Carolina, one of the most conservative US states. The primary there was the first in a southern state.
His win there made for three different winners in the first three states, with Rick Santorum winning Iowa and Romney taking New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, results from InsiderAdvantage, a Republican polling firm run by a former Gingrich staff member, shows the former House Speaker leading by eight points in the Sunshine State, after weeks of polling behind Romney. The poll of 557 registered Republican voters showed Gingrich with 34%, and Romney with 26%. Ron Paul is in third with 13%.
