Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says that, if he, Mitt Romney, or Rick Santorum lose their respective home states in the upcoming primaries, “you have, I think, a very, very badly weakened candidacy.”
Gingrich, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” said Romney in particular would face a setback if he lost the Michigan primary on Feb. 28.
“Here a guy who’s been running for six years . . . has outspent all the rest of us . . . if he can’t carry his own state . . . I don’t see what he says the next morning to his donors to stay in the race,” the former House speaker said.
The primary in Gingrich's home state of Georgia takes place on Super Tuesday, March 6; in Santorum's home of Pennsylvania, the primary will be April 24; and in Rep. Ron Paul's stomping grounds of Texas, a redistricting controversy could push the primary back to May 29.
If any of the candidates dropped out, Gingrich said he would have no problem with a late entry into the GOP race.
“Anybody who feels that they want to come out and qualify, come play,” he said, adding this warning: “Nobody’s going to show up and become superman or superwoman.”
On the issues, Gingrich said his No. 1 goal is “to create dramatic economic growth,” and his No. 2 goal is to “unleash” American oil and gas drilling both on and offshore to reduce the price at the pump to $2.50 per gallon.
“My goal is to be so independent in energy production that no American president ever again bows to a Saudi king,” he said. “This president is anti-American energy. His U.S attorney in North Dakota filed a lawsuit over eight migratory birds. That’s how much they’re opposed to the oil industry.
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