Infidelity charge clouds Gingrich campaign
Friends wonder how allegations made by his second wife will affect primary in South Carolina
CHARLESTON, S. C. — Callista Gingrich sat on a raised platform next to a furry mascot named Ellis the Elephant, surrounded by a clutch of small children and perhaps a dozen television cameras.
The third wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich — a political spouse accused on national television a day earlier of being a home- wrecking mistress — opened her self- penned children’s book, patriotically titled Sweet Land of Liberty, and began to read.
The family- friendly scene served as a carefully staged contrast to charges by Gingrich’s second wife, Marianne, that Newt asked to have an “open marriage” so he could continue an affair with Callista in 1999.
The renewed attention to Gingrich’s history of marital infidelity threw a cloud of uncertainty over the ex- congressman’s surging campaign, with close friends wondering publicly how the allegations would affect today’s primary in socially conservative South Carolina.
“It’s nothing to cheer about,” said Bob Livingston, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana, who served with Gingrich in the House of Representatives from the 1970s to the late 1990s. “I wouldn’t want those charges levelled against me. But nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes and the Good Lord forgives us.”
Several polls ahead of Saturday’s voting have shown Gingrich in dead heat with Republican front- runner Mitt Romney, whose own campaign has foundered in South Carolina amid persistent questions about his wealth and his reluctance to release his tax returns.
An upset victory by Gingrich — which seemed unlikely only a few days ago — could alter the trajectory of the Republican race and force Romney into a prolonged battle for the nomination. A humbling Gingrich loss could spell the end of his campaign and re- establish perceptions Romney is the inevitable nominee.
But as Gingrich prepared Friday for the verdict of voters, the former Speaker hardly looked like a candidate whose political fate hinged on a come- frombehind win.
Gingrich cancelled a morning speech to the influential Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Charleston when fewer than 20 people showed up for the nine a. m. event.
He then spent a leisurely 90 minutes touring a local children’s hospital. Gingrich stood off to the side as Callista gave a reading of her book, in which a fictional elephant experiences the major historical events that led to America becoming “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The somewhat leisurely pace of campaigning came with South Carolina voters still abuzz over Gingrich’s outburst at CNN moderator John King during a Thursday night debate in Charleston.
Asked to address Marianne Gingrich’s claims, Newt said the CNN journalist’s question was “as close to despicable as anything I can imagine.” He also launched a tirade against the media for bias against Republicans.
The audience gave Gingrich a standing ovation, a response being interpreted as a possible sign conservative voters are looking past the candidate’s personal life.
Romney, meantime, spent his last full day of campaigning in South Carolina downplaying expectations of a victory that seemed assured only days ago.
The former Massachusetts governor’s support in polls has dipped amid revelations he keeps part of his personal fortune in offshore investments in the Cayman Islands.
He continues to refuse to release his tax returns before April.
He said he was “cautiously optimistic” but cited South Carolina voters’ familiarity with Gingrich, who hails from neighbouring Georgia.
“I knew we’d have a long road ahead of us, and frankly to be in a neck- and- neck race at this last moment is kind of exciting,” said Romney, who won the first- in- the- nation New Hampshire primaries and narrowly lost the Iowa caucuses to former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum.