Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says Mitt Romney isn't showing leadership or courage by refusing to detail his position on a payroll tax issue roiling Congress.
Gingrich told reporters in Virginia that presidential candidates must be prepared to talk about hot issues.
The former House speaker has gone into greater detail than Romney in discussing the tax matter. Gingrich sharply criticized a proposed two-month extension of a temporary cut in payroll taxes passed by the Senate. House Republicans want a one-year extension. President Barack Obama and the Senate have embraced the idea as the only workable compromise for now.
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Gingrich said there is "a timidity of calculation" on the part of candidates, such as Romney, who listen too much to advisers. He also said Romney will be hurt in New Hampshire by his record of requiring people to obtain health insurance when he was Massachusetts governor.
Earlier in the day, Gingrich blasted Obama during his side trip to Virginia.
Gingrich left Iowa and New Hampshire to work toward the 10,000 voter signatures he needs to qualify for Virginia's March 6 ballot.
He told a breakfast gathering in Richmond that everything Obama believes "kills jobs." He also said the president "has a European radical attitude toward class warfare."
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