Gingrich Attacked on Topics Professional and Personal [View all]

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Newt Gingrich angrily turned aside questions Thursday about his marital history at the outset of the final Republican presidential debate before the South Carolina primary, and then aggressively took on Mitt Romney and the other remaining candidates in a raucous confrontation about immigration, abortion, conservative credentials and electability.

With the field of candidates down to four and Saturday’s primary here just two days away, the candidates engaged in intensely personal verbal combat fittingly set in a sports coliseum, where Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker, was usually the prime target.

Mr. Romney told Mr. Gingrich that for all his talk aligning himself with Ronald Reagan during his days in Congress, “I looked at the Reagan Diary, you’re mentioned once.” Rick Santorum questioned Mr. Gingrich’s grip on logic, at one point telling him, “These are not cogent thoughts” and saying if Mr. Gingrich were president voters would have to perennially worry “something’s going to pop” about his personal life.

Mr. Gingrich gave it right back to both of them, reprising his attacks on Mr. Romney for his time at the buyout firm Bain Capital — and job losses caused by some of its deals — and telling Mr. Santorum his ideas were too small for the challenges of the times.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/us/politics/republican-debate-south-carolina.html?pagewanted=all