OSKALOOSA, Iowa - The fight between Republican presidential front-runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich is escalating, with independently funded attack ads dominating the volatile contest to challenge President Barack Obama in the November election.
Gingrich again on Wednesday asked Romney to call off a group airing ads that have contributed to the former U.S. House speaker's slide in the leadoff caucus state.
Iowa casts the first votes in the battle for the party's nomination on Jan. 3, and the results will help shape the state-by-state march to the Republican nominating convention in August.
After soaring to the top of the polls both in Iowa and nationally in recent weeks, Gingrich finds himself struggling under more than $1 million in negative advertising, much of it paid for by supporters of Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.
Both men criticize a new campaign finance system -- fueled by deep-pocketed political action committees -- that benefits them.
In Iowa, Gingrich vowed his White House bid would remain positive but on Tuesday called the Romney camp's tactics "disgusting." Gingrich suggested at a campaign stop that his opponents "hire consultants who get drunk, sit around and write stupid ads."
Gingrich again on Wednesday pressed Romney to get rid of the ads. A new one came out Tuesday.
Romney defended himself on Fox News. "There are limits to what you can tell a PAC," he said. "I'm sure I could go out and say, 'Please, don't do anything negative.' But this is politics. And if you can't stand the heat in this little kitchen, wait until the Obama's Hell's Kitchen turns up the heat."
On Tuesday, Romney told MSNBC that super PACs have been "a disaster." But he refused to urge the group Restore Our Future to halt the attacks on Gingrich, saying the law prohibits co-ordination between his campaign and such groups. He pointedly declined to disavow the ads.
Restore Our Future has run $1.4 million in TV ads in Iowa this month and plans to spend another $1.4 million before the Jan. 3 caucuses.
Gingrich has said the attacks are false, but he declined to say during a news conference Wednesday what specifically is inaccurate.
Briefly touching on foreign affairs, Romney told MSNBC on Wednesday he would not rule out military support to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has overseen a deadly nine-month uprising against his regime. Romney has said the time had come for Assad's regime to end.
Meanwhile, Ron Paul has emerged as a wild card in the Republican race. The blunt-spoken Texas congressman will campaign in Iowa again on Wednesday. The race remains unpredictable, as voters weigh electability against conservative credentials.
An earlier Associated Press-GfK poll found Romney and Obama essentially tied when Americans were asked their voting intentions for 2012. But Obama led Gingrich, 51 per cent to 42 per cent.
The bickering over negative ads has highlighted the role of so-called super PACs, independent groups which may accept unlimited donations but are not supposed to directly co-ordinate with candidates. Such groups have sprung up to work on behalf of every serious Republican candidate in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that allowed people, unions and corporations to donate unlimited sums of money to outfits advocating the election or defeat of candidates.
Both Romney and Gingrich have PACs leveraging dollars on their behalf.
Among the most visible is Restore our Future, run by former Romney aides. It has been blanketing the airwaves in Iowa with a series of caustic ads painting Gingrich as an ethically challenged Washington power broker. The onslaught has chipped away at Gingrich's poll numbers in the state.
Gingrich and Romney were each expected back on the campaign trail Wednesday, one of the last full days before the campaigns go quiet for the holidays. Romney had a full day of campaign stops in New Hampshire, a must-win state for him that votes Jan. 10.
