MASON CITY, Iowa— Newt Gingrich says a luxury cruise he took through the Greek Isles earlier this year that prompted top aides to quit his campaign was designed to show he's "a different kind of candidate."
Speaking to reporters after a speech in Mason City, Iowa, on Wednesday, the Republican presidential candidate said the trip had always been planned to give him time to think.
Gingrich said being in Greece during that country's financial crisis was helpful and gave him a deeper perspective on the difficult economic struggles ahead.
The former House speaker also distanced himself from a mailer circulating in Iowa and paid for by a political action committee that supports him. The mailer says Republican rival Mitt Romney is the "second most dangerous man in America."
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