Gingrich Iowa TV Ads Keeping Campaign in Debt
DECORAH, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's campaign made a new ad buy today, the third of an expensive advertising in Iowa, keeping the campaign in debt, according to a spokesman.
A campaign spokesperson told ABC News today they would still have debt in the next FEC filing report because "we're trying to win in Iowa." The campaign would not release the purchase amount of the new ad, saying only that the buy was "major."
The ad titled "Winning the Argument," will begin airing tomorrow and shows clips from Gingrich in past debates. The Gingrich campaign made two $250,000 ad buys in December, running two ads repetitively over the last month.
The campaign is buying large amounts of ads instead of paying back debt, some of which include charter planes and debts owed from big spending early in the campaign season. ABC News reported last month that the Gingrich campaign did pay back the $42,000 owed to Gingrich himself for his list of contacts.
While the new advertisement remains positive in nature, the Gingrich campaign took a negative turn this week releasing two emails last night and today, calling Mitt Romney a "Massachusetts moderate" and comparing the "Gingrich jobs and growth plan" with the "moderate Mitt tax reshuffling." In previous policy comparison emails, the Gingrich campaign used Mitt Romney's first and last name, without the "moderate."
The other email from the campaign ripped apart "moderate Mitt's latest ad," which did not attack Gingrich. Last month, Gingrich released a memo to his staff asking them to stay positive and not attack the other campaigns.
Spokesman R.C. Hammond said the memo has not been disregarded by the staff, but they will continue to answer attacks. Hammond said tonight their top economic adviser, Peter Ferrara, helped with the material "we are bashing Romney with." Ferrara told ABC News he advises on economic comparisons between campaigns.
With the caucus set for Jan. 3, the campaign is in the final days of making the case for a Gingrich win in Iowa. Recent attack ads played over the airwaves in Iowa have hurt the Gingrich campaign in the polls. On Tuesday Gingrich said he hoped the people of Iowa would recognize the "baloney" and said "we have enough money."