Newt Gingrich wins Union Leader backing
The conservative winds lifting Newt Gingrich in the GOP presidential primary got a bit stronger today. The Manchester Union Leader, New Hampshire’s biggest newspaper, endorsed Gingrich over Mitt Romney and the rest of the field.
The influential Union Leader’s backing arrives as Gingrich has emerged as the latest threat to Romney after a series of flameouts by other candidates.
Romney enjoys a huge lead in New Hamsphire polls, but Gingrich has pulled even or ahead of the former Massachusetts governor in national surveys. In Iowa, Gingrich appears to be replacing Herman Cain as the leading conservative caucus challenger to Romney, though poll results thus far are scant.
“We are honored to have the endorsement of the Union Leader,’’ Gingrich’s New Hampshire state director Andrew Hemingway told NBC News. “This is an enormous boost to our campaign and further proof that the people of New Hampshire are wanting substance and solutions over soundbites and pandering.’’
The Union Leader has a history of picking conservative candidates and has racked up a mixed record. It was an early and vocal supporter of Ronald Reagan. But it shunned George H. W. Bush in 1988 and instead backed former Delaware governor Pierre du Pont.
It backed Pat Buchanan in 1992, when he lost, and again in 1996, when he defeated Bob Dole in New Hampshire but ultimately lost the nomination to Dole. It got behind Steve Forbes in 2000, even though the race was really between George W. Bush and John McCain. In 2008 it supported John McCain over Romney.
The Union Leader splashed today’s endorsement across the top of the front page.
“We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing,’’ the newspaper wrote.
“We don’t back candidates based on popularity polls or big-shot backers,’’ it said. “We look for conservatives of courage and conviction who are independent-minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job.’’
Romney campaign spokeswoman Gail Gitcho declined to comment. Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union this morning, Cain blamed his failure to secure the paper’s endorsement on “false accusations’’ of sexual harassment from his tenure as head of the National Restaurant Association and confusion over his position on abortion.
“Obviously false accusations and confusion about some of my positions has contributed to it and that was to be expected,’’ Cain said. “Some people are heavily influenced by perception more so than reality. The good news is most of my supporters have stayed on the Cain train, as we say.’’
Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, on Fox News Sunday, shrugged off the impact.
“It once again proves how fluid and unpredictable New Hampshire is,’’ Huntsman said of the endorsement. “A month ago for Newt Gingrich to have been in the running to capture the Union Leader endorsement would be unthinkable.’’
He added: “I like our position. I like where we stand in the poll. I believe we’re going to beat market expectations.’’
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