Immigration Issue
As Gingrich works to catch up organizationally, he also must defend the sort of debate remarks that have gotten his competitors into trouble. When Texas Governor Rick Perry was deemed too soft on illegal immigration after a Sept. 22 debate that highlighted his support for in-state tuition of American- born children of undocumented workers, he lost his front-runner status and has never recovered.
Gingrich spent much of the week defending his plan to grant legal status to some immigrants who entered the country illegally long ago, after Romney and Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann labeled it "amnesty" during a Nov. 23 candidate forum in Washington.
"It is an absolute falsehood to say that I favor amnesty for 11 million people. Period," Gingrich told voters gathered on a town green in Bluffton, South Carolina.
"Anybody who says it from now on has been served notice that they are saying something which is not true, which in itself should disqualify them as a candidate," he said.
The former speaker also emphasized to voters that he didn't work as a lobbyist after leaving office. Gingrich made millions through a network of advocacy organizations, think tanks and consulting firms he founded after resigning the speakership and his House seat in 1999.
Freddie Mac Ties
His clients included Freddie Mac, a mortgage company taken into government conservatorship in 2008 after its stake in failed subprime loans pushed it to the brink of collapse.
"I can't tell you which distortion my opponents are going to raise," he said. "I can tell you this: I will be prepared to answer every one of them."
Republican Representative Tim Scott, who hosted a town-hall meeting with Gingrich in Charleston, said the presidential hopeful's immigration position will likely be a liability with the state's conservative Republican voters.