Newt Gingrich clubs Mitt Romney with his 1994 opposition
to the Contract With America (Chris Keane/Reuters)
It's on:
GINGRICH: The Contract with America was probably the most conservative, successful legislative platform in modern times.
DOMENECH*: And, of course, that Contract is one that your primary opponent Mitt Romney did not support. I wanted to ask you a question based on –
GINGRICH: That’s not totally fair. He was running for – He was running to the left of Teddy Kennedy in Massachusetts in 1994. And he said flatly, he wasn’t for the Reagan-Bush policies, he was independent. And he couldn’t possibly have been for the Contract because, how do you run in Massachusetts to the left of Teddy Kennedy favoring a Gingrich Contract?
As Tapper notes, Romney did speak out against Gingrich's Contract. Partly, it's a reminder that Mitt Romney is full of it when he says he hasn't been long-time politician, but it's also a reminder to Republicans that while Newt Gingrich was leading the GOP to their first majority in the U.S. House in a half century, Romney was losing by 17 points to Ted Kennedy.
The 1994 election is what Nate Silver aptly described as Newt Gingrich's "unimpeachable conservative credential"—and it makes for a terrible contrast for Mitt Romney. And even though "to the left of Teddy Kennedy" is obvious hyperbole, Newt Gingrich will be happy to talk about what happened in 1994 all day long.
*Totally unrelated side note: Yep, this is the guy Newt Gingrich did his interview with, proving that if you're conservative and you at the very least know how to cut-and-paste, there's always going to be a job for you.