Gingrich urges right to unite behind him in South Carolina

Last- ditch attack on Romney

CHARLESTON, S. C. — Newt Gingrich is mounting a last- ditch assault against Mitt Romney in South Carolina, urging rival candidates to pull out and endorse him as the only alternative to the “Massachusetts moderate.”

The former House speaker is enjoying a resurgence in support after a strong performance in a televised debate on Monday evening. A Rasmussen poll Wednesday found that his nationwide support had jumped 11 percentage points to 27 per cent from two weeks ago, while Romney, the front- runner, remained static at 29 per cent.

Gingrich is polling second behind Romney in South Carolina.

Sarah Palin, former Republican vicepresidential candidate, endorsed Gingrich on Tuesday.

Gingrich, 68, has stuck to an attack on President Barack Obama as the “food stamp president,” due to the rising number of people taking benefits under his leadership, despite claims that it has racist undertones due to poverty among black communities.

He warned activists that a vote for Rick Santorum or Rick Perry was “effectively a vote for Romney to be the nominee” and urged conservatives to unite behind his candidacy.

Romney’s campaign dispatched supportive ex- members of Congress, who worked alongside Gingrich during the 1990s, to trash his record.

Susan Molinari, a former representative for New York, told reporters that Gingrich’s style was “leadership by chaos,” while Jim Talent, a former senator for Missouri, said that Gingrich would “be an unreliable candidate like he was an unreliable leader in the ’ 90s.”

Gail Gitcho, Romney’s spokesman, insisted that they were merely “distinguishing our campaign from Speaker Gingrich.”