URBANDALE, Iowa — Preempting the likely avalanche of attacks from his rivals, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich vowed on Saturday afternoon not to go negative against any of his primary opponents.
“My campaign will be relentlessly positive,” Gingrich told a large gathering of supporters at his state campaign headquarters. “Our advertising will be positive.”
Since he has risen in the polls, Gingrich has been the recipient of attacks, especially from the campaign of former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.
Gingrich told supporters the campaign should be “about real solutions.”
“I’ve got good friends who are running. Any one of those would be better than Barack Obama. We should focus on solutions. They should offer you their solutions. I will offer you my solutions.”
He said if the primary campaign gets dirty, it will only help Obama.
“We should have a positive campaign … so that whoever comes out of this is strong enough to beat Obama. We should not be tearing each other down,” he said.
Gingrich, however, said he has no problem that candidates “compare” each other’s records.
He also said he will encourage people not to give money to any independent super PACS, which go after his opponents in order to help him.
His remarks come before Saturday night’s debate at Drake University in Des Moines.
Gingrich said he’s taking debate prep so seriously that he flew in his two “debate coaches.” That would be his two grandchildren, he said, one of whom encourages him to smile more during debates.
Earlier in the day after he spoke to a veterans group, Gingrich was all smiles when a reporter asked him if he expected to be the piñata at the debate.
“No, they wouldn’t do that,” he said while grinning.
