In Iowa, attacks damage Gingrich

Associated Press

DAVENPORT, Iowa

More than $1 million in negative advertising — much of it bankrolled by Mitt Romney’s allies — has eroded Newt Gingrich’s standing in Iowa and thrown the Republican presidential race here wide open two weeks before the first votes.

The former House speaker’s Iowa slide mirrors his newfound troubles nationally, and it has boosted Romney’s confidence while fueling talk that libertarian-leaning Texas Rep. Ron Paul could pull off a win in the leadoff caucus state Jan. 3.

“The only person who profits from Republican ads attacking other Republicans is Barack Obama, and I think it is pretty reprehensible behavior on the part of some of the candidates,” Gingrich said Monday as he arrived in Davenport, jabbing his opponents even as he insisted he was running an upbeat campaign.

Attacks against him are all but certain to continue.

For one, the Restore Our Future political action committee, made up of former Romney staffers from his failed 2008 bid, plans to spend $1.4 million more over the next two weeks, including on a new ad beginning Tuesday that’s expected to be aimed at Gingrich.

That would bring to roughly $3 million the amount spent by the group against Gingrich.

Aides for several campaigns competing against Gingrich as well as outside independent groups aligned with the candidates say their internal polls find that he has fallen over the last week from the top slot in Iowa.

And a national Gallup poll released Monday found Gingrich’s support plummeting: He had the backing of 26 percent of Republican voters nationally, down from 37 percent on Dec. 8.

Romney’s support was largely unchanged at 24 percent.

Gingrich’s weakened position follows a barrage of advertising that cast him as a longtime Washington, D.C., power-broker.

The ads, primarily financed by so-called super PACs, underscore the power of independent groups following a Supreme Court decision last year that allowed people, unions and corporations to donate unlimited amounts of money to outfits advocating the election or defeat of candidates.

Since the ruling, groups have popped up to work on behalf of every serious Republican presidential candidate.

On her own bus tour of the state, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann sought to sow doubt about Paul’s opposition to pre-emptive military action in nations such as Iran and North Korea.

“Ron Paul would be a dangerous president,” Bachmann said.

“He would have us ignore all of the warning signs of another brutal dictator who wants to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. I won’t. ... The death of Kim Jong Il reminds us that we live in a dangerous world.”