Mitt Romney is working to push back against Newt Gingrich, suggesting the former house speaker should return the $1.6 million his firm was paid for advising mortgage giant Freddie Mac. But Gingrich’s response to Romney was just as aggressive. He slammed Romney’s career at venture capital firm, Bain Capital…while taking a shot at his debate wager this weekend. He said, “If Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employers over his years at Bain then I would be glad to listen to him. I’ll bet you $10, not $10,000 that he won’t take the offer.” But just hours later, both candidates seemed to back off a bit. Romney said he wouldn’t personally say “outrageous things” against his Republican opponents and Gingrich also made a stand for civility at a New Hampshire town hall. He said, “I will release a letter to my staff, to any consultants and to any surrogates we have indicating our determination to run a positive campaign and also indicating that any SuperPac saying it is doing so in my name, attacking any of my friends who are running that I would publicly disown them and urge people not to donate to them…I appreciate Governor Romney taking that position and hope he will communicate it to his surrogates and to his staff and consultants and frankly, to any SuperPacs that operate in his name.”
Michele Norris is a Senior Contributing Editor for MS NOW.