TAMPA, Fla. - A more aggressive Mitt Romney took the fight in a Monday night debate to Newt Gingrich, whose victory in Saturday's South Carolina primary scrambled the Republican race to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama.
Gingrich has suddenly seized the nomination momentum, following weak finishes in the first two contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, with his solid victory over Romney. Recent polls suggest he may have erased Romney's lead in Florida, site of the next primary on Jan. 31.
Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, remains the favourite of much of the Republican establishment and has a big advantage in money and organization. Florida is also seen as friendlier territory for him than South Carolina, one of the most conservative states.
But the South Carolina win has allowed Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, to position himself as the only viable alternative to Romney, whom some Republicans see as too moderate.
The two other candidates in the race, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, shared the debate stage, but are seen as longshots for the nomination.
The debate Monday -- which comes one night before Obama's State of the Union policy speech -- and another on Thursday play to Gingrich's strength: The revival of his candidacy is largely attributed to his strong performances in previous debates, where he lashed out at liberal "elites."
Since losing South Carolina, Romney has become more assertive in attacking Gingrich, and in the opening moments of Monday's debate charged that Gingrich "resigned in disgrace" from Congress after four years as speaker and then spent the next 15 years "working as an influence peddler" in Washington.
Gingrich shot back that Romney's attacks were riddled with falsehoods, and he referred to statements by two men who ran against Romney in 2008 in contending the former Massachusetts governor "can't tell the truth."
Asked about the former House speaker's electability, Romney said Gingrich led Republicans to historic election losses and said members of Gingrich's own team voted to reprimand him in the House.
The libertarian-leaning Paul, who advocates limited government and a non-interventionist foreign policy, sidestepped when moderator Brian Williams of NBC asked if he would run as a third-party candidate in the fall if he doesn't win the nomination. "I have no intention," he said, but he didn't slam the door.
Romney also highlighted Gingrich's ties to the federally backed mortgage lending giant Freddie Mac, saying the former House speaker was hired directly by a lobbyist for Freddie Mac and called it a liability that would cost Republicans the general election in November. In response, Gingrich accused Romney of engaging in "disinformation" and trivial politics.
Romney's attacks in the debate were underscored earlier Monday in the first negative ad directly sponsored by his campaign, highlighting Gingrich's post-Congress work for Freddie Mac, which played a significant role in the U.S. housing crisis.
"While Florida families lost everything in the housing crisis, Newt Gingrich cashed in," the TV ad says, noting that Gingrich made more than $1.6 million working for Freddie Mac. "Gingrich resigned from Congress in disgrace and then cashed in as a D.C. insider."
Gingrich retorted that Romney was a candidate who was campaigning on openness yet "has released none of his business records."
He followed up two hours before the debate by arranging the release of a contract his former consulting firm had with the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. for a retainer of $25,000 per month in 2006, or a total for the year of $300,000. The agreement called for "consulting and related services."
Despite Romney's attempts to call Gingrich a lobbyist, the contract makes no mention of lobbying.
The material was released by the Center for Health Transformation, which Gingrich helped create, and has since sold.
Gingrich, meanwhile, showed no signs of backing down.
During an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America," he referred to Romney as "somebody who has released none of his business records, who has decided to make a stand on transparency without being transparent." After initially balking, Romney is set to release personal tax records on Tuesday.
