Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren on Wednesday night that he had no intention of altering his strategy despite failing to come in pole position in Tuesday’s Alabama and Mississippi primaries.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren on Wednesday night that he had no intention of altering his strategy.
Photo: Fox News.
“I think I’ve got to keep moving forward and talking about big ideas, talking about things like an American energy plan that would return gasoline to under $2.50 a gallon — it’s $4.25 in Chicago today — and talk about big solutions to issues we’re faced with,” he told the Fox News anchor.
Mr. Gingrich also reiterated his belief that none of the GOP presidential hopefuls would have amassed the required 1,144 delegates by June 26, when the last primary is held in Utah, in order to win the Republican nomination outright. Furthermore, he said, Louisiana, which holds its contest next Tuesday, “is only half time”.
Mr. Gingrich also reminded the viewers that he was “the only speaker in modern times to have balanced the budget”, and that his energy plan would not only make America energy independent, create millions of jobs, and slash gas prices to $2.50 a gallon or less, but also allow the country to pay off the federal debt.
After pointing out that Hispanics represented around eight percent of the population in Illinois, Ms. Van Susteren asked Mr. Gingrich how he was planning to convince this group of the electorate to support him.
The former speaker first stressed that they too would benefit from his energy policy before highlighting that Hispanic leaders recognized that he had “made the most serious effort to find a common sense solution on immigration”. He also reiterated his strong belief that the Republican Party had to “serve and work with every group in the country”.
As far as the ‘gay vote’ is concerned, Mr. Gingrich explained that the economic situation in the U.S. was so dire that this group of the electorate was likely to ignore his stance on gay marriage and support his policy on job creation.
“If the only issue they vote on is gay marriage, then probably they’re going to feel uncomfortable because I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and I am committed to the classic Christian concept of what a marriage is,” Mr. Gingrich said. However, those who realize that the real, non-manipulated unemployment and under-employment rate is 20 percent and not 8.3 percent as the Obama administration would have us believe are likely to concentrate on the real issue and vote for somebody “who is going to help create jobs,” he added.
A Gallup study published a week ago found that the real under-employment rate is closer to
20 percent and not 8.3 percent as the administration claims.
Indeed, a Gallup survey published last week found that the number of Americans who are unemployed or under-employed or who have simply given up looking for a job stood at around 19 percent in February.
Nevertheless, the latest Chicago Tribune poll conducted between March 7 and March 9 indicates that Mr. Gingrich would come in third place with 12 percent of the votes. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was found to be the favorite of 35 percent of those questioned, while former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum garnered 31-percent support. Texas Congressman Ron Paul came last with only seven percent of the ballots.
