Newt Gingrich targeted over policy, personal life in GOP debate, LA Times
“Mitt Romney, who has been running at or near the front of polls until Gingrich’s recent surge, challenged Gingrich’s call to colonize the moon and to change child labor laws so inner-city students can go to work cleaning their classrooms. Romney contrasted his background in the business world with Gingrich’s long career in Washington.
“Let’s be candid,” Gingrich shot back. “The only reason you didn’t become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994.” The rejoinder — a reference to Romney’s unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid before winning the Massachusetts governorship eight years later — was the closest Gingrich came to showing pique.
Acting like the college lecturer he once was, he rebutted his opponents point by point, saying, for instance, that colonizing the moon would inspire students to study math and science and that putting poor students to work was a way to instill a healthy work ethic.”
