ROME – Returning to Georgia Tuesday for several days of campaigning, Newt Gingrich accused Pakistan of hiding Osama bin Laden before U.S. Navy SEALs assassinated him during a daring night raid last May and said the United States should reevaluate its relationship with Islamic countries.
"We now know that the Pakistanis for seven years were hiding bin Laden in a military city within a mile of their national defense university," the former Georgia congressman told hundreds of supporters gathered in an airplane hangar in Rome. "Does any serious person believe that could have been done without a significant part of the Pakistani government knowing it would protect him?"
Gingrich added: “I believe we need to reassess every element of our relationship with the Islamic world and we need to be prepared to do whatever it takes to become economically independent."
Earlier Tuesday at a campaign rally in Dalton, Gingrich took aim at President Obama’s apology over the burning of Qurans in Afghanistan, calling on the president to apologize to Americans. Two American troops have been gunned down in Afghanistan amid violent protests since the U.S. military said the Muslim holy books were burned by mistake at Bagram Airfield. President Obama has apologized for the incident.
“I believe that no American president should apologize when young Americans are being killed,” Gingrich said. “Mr. President, you owe the American people and you owe the young men and women in uniform an apology for your failure to defend America.”
During a press briefing Friday, a White House spokesman said the president was considering the safety of the U.S. troops and civilians remaining in Afghanistan when he apologized.
"The president believed that it was in the best interests of their safety to make it clear that an apology was appropriate, and that the American people and the American military in particular does have respect for the religious views and the religious practices of the Afghan people," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Meanwhile, the Super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination has received another significant contribution from its primary donor, a person with knowledge of the contribution told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tuesday.
The Winning Our Future PAC this week began running television spots in Georgia. Former Gingrich aide Rick Tyler, a spokesman for Winning Our Future, told the AJC on Monday that the PAC has also bought air time in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kansas and Mississippi.
The spot is airing Tuesday through the March 6 primary. Tyler declined to provide specifics on how often the spots would air or on which stations. The spot targets Romney as being untrustworthy and unable to defeat Obama.
The spot, Tyler said, makes the point that “there’s something about Mitt Romney” that conservative voters can’t relate to.
Gingrich returned to his old home state Tuesday to shore up his base for at least the third time this month as the polls continue to tighten in the Republican presidential race. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were scheduled to campaign in Michigan Tuesday, when that state and Arizona’s GOP primaries will be decided. Paul has a campaign stop planned in Springfield, Va.
“We decided not to compete in Michigan,” Gingrich told his supporters at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center in Dalton. “We thought it would be important to focus here, to focus in Tennessee and Oklahoma and Idaho and Ohio and the states that are going to be in Super Tuesday. So your help making sure we carry Georgia really matters.”
Gingrich, who represented Georgia in Congress for 20 years, has said he must do well in Georgia and other Southern states to win the Republican presidential nomination. With 76 delegates at stake here, Georgia will provide the biggest catch of the 10 states voting on Super Tuesday March 6.
The former House speaker, who graduated from high school in Columbus and from Emory University in Atlanta before teaching history at West Georgia College, has rallies planned for Carrollton, Dalton and Rome Tuesday. Gingrich is scheduled to campaign in Covington and Gainesville Wednesday and in Doraville, Macon and Woodstock Thursday.
Gov. Nathan Deal, his Georgia campaign chairman, is expected to join him at the Carrollton and Gainesville rallies.
Gingrich once held a sizable lead in the polls in Georgia, but that lead has shrunk following Santorum’s recent wins in several states. A new 11Alive News poll conducted by SurveyUSA shows Gingrich at 39 percent; Santorum, 24 percent; Mitt Romney, 23 percent; and Texas congressman Ron Paul, 9 percent. Taken Thursday through Sunday, the poll surveyed 1,340 adults, including 457 who said they plan to vote in next week’s GOP primary. Compared to another 11Alive News poll taken three weeks ago, Gingrich is down 6 percentage points, while Santorum is up 15 points.
During a campaign stop in Nashville Monday, Gingrich talked about the importance of winning his old home state.
“We have to do fairly well on Super Tuesday. And that starts with Georgia,” he said. “I am pretty straight about that. I think people have to carry their home state.”
Gingrich also predicted he would win Alabama and Mississippi’s primaries this month and that the race could remain competitive all the way to the Republican National Convention in August.
“My basic hope is to pick up some delegates virtually everywhere, pick up a lot of delegates in the South and the Southwest and then with Texas and California be totally in the race,” he said.
“I think you could easily end up in a race which will go to the convention for the first time in your lifetime -- which for every reporter will be very exciting and I suspect for most of you it will be very exciting. For us, it will be very nerve-racking.”
Bob Sheth, who manages a Dalton hotel, said he voted for Obama in the last election but is now giving Gingrich a look. He said disagreed with Obama’s apology over the burning of the Qurans and said he likes Gingrich’s focus on lowering gas prices, something Sheth said could generate more Florida-bound customers for his hotel.
“Newt might not tell you everything you want to hear but I could respect a man that is at least straight-up with me,” he said after watching Gingrich speak at the rally in Dalton.
Debbie Rhea, a karaoke host from Trenton who attended Gingrich’s rally in Dalton, agreed with Gingrich’s criticism of the president. She plans to vote for Gingrich, saying she has seen the recent polls in Georgia and is praying he will carry this state on Super Tuesday.
“I believe he has the correct ideas and the correct morals to go into this and the correct frame of mind,” she said. “He is not apologetic. He is not wishy-washy. He knows how to speak to people.”
Ed Painter, a Dalton photo service store owner and Gingrich’s Whitfield County campaign chairman, said Gingrich’s chances of succeeding in Georgia are improving.
“We all believe it is critical for him to win Georgia,” Painter said. “We are seeing a lot more enthusiasm for him now than we did last week. There seems to be a shift.”
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