Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Newt Blasts Negative Attacks After 4th-Place Showing in Iowa

At London's Daily Mail, "Newt Gingrich takes aggressive stance against Mitt Romney to New Hampshire."

And at Los Angeles Times, "Newt Gingrich says he survived historic 'onslaught' in Iowa":

Reporting from Des Moines — At around 9:30 p.m., when Fox News announced over the big screen that it projected Newt Gingrich would finish fourth in the Republican caucuses, barely anyone raised their heads.

"Oh, who wants to listen to them? They don't make sense," said Gingrich supporter Nancy Lebischak, who'd come to the reception with her husband. "Bah humbug."

A tough finish in a hard Iowa race was hardly any surprise, after all; if there were to be any surprises tonight, they would be saved for the candidates -- Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum -- knotted up with one another at the top.

The crowd's general outlook toward that triumvirate -- glad for Santorum, scared of Paul, utterly angry at Romney -- matched that of their candidate, who saw a steep drop in his poll numbers after an onslaught of negative ads. "Please, God, let Santorum win -- anybody but Romney," a supporter murmured to his friends as they glanced up again at Fox News; indeed, few at the reception regarded Santorum as some kind of arriviste.

"I admire how positive he was," Gingrich said of Santorum after he'd arrived to thank about 50 or 60 of his supporters. "I wish I could say that about all the other candidates."
Also at Boston Globe, "Gingrich hits Romney, says he'll continue to fight."