Newt Gingrich, Iowa Caucuses | featured news

Mitt Romney faced attacks from both sides after squeaking a record narrow victory in Iowa, with New Hampshire's leading newspaper Thursday urging Republicans to back his rival Newt Gingrich and President Barack Obama's re-election campaign training its sights on him.

Why didn't Newt Gingrich praise Mitt Romney for his squeaker win in Iowa, when he spoke warmly of Rick Santorum, who came within a handful of votes of the top spot? "Other than the fact that Governor Romney ran a relentlessly negative campaign of falsehoods, which earned one of his ads four Pinocchios from the Washington Post?" Gingrich said at a news conference Wednesday. "The fact is, three out of four Republicans rejected him. Governor Romney is a moderate Massachusetts Republican to the left of the vast majority of Republicans. I find it amazing that the media continues to say he's the most electable Republican when he can't even break out in his own party.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who led Iowa and national polls in November, said Monday he did not expect to win Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, but will declare victory because he has survived an onslaught of negative advertising.

Donald Trump withdrew Tuesday as the moderator of a debate planned for later this month in Iowa, citing his interest in possibly still running for president as an independent. Trump pulled out of a debate he had planned to host along with the conservative magazine Newsmax, scheduled for Dec. 27, just days before the Iowa caucuses. All the GOP presidential candidates save for Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum said they would not participate.

Mitt Romney may have some help in Iowa: Ron Paul. The Texas congressman's allies and others say that he drains support from the rising Newt Gingrich, and, if that turns out to be the case during the Jan. 3 caucuses and Paul manages to triumph here, the theory is that Romney would benefit in the long-run.

The polls of the two earliest states in the presidential nominating contest both show significant progress for Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, who has moved up about 20 points in each state since October.

Sensing an opening, Romney is stepping up his Iowa campaign and talking about winning the state after months of taking a more low-key approach. He probably will return to Iowa in November and hold a conference call with thousands of Iowa GOP caucus-goers.