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Newt Gingrich’s out-of-the-blue attack on Mayor Bloomberg is a sign of a presidential campaign sinking in the “desperate last days in Iowa,” according to one person in the Bloomberg camp.
“I just think Newt is being off the cuff,” said the Bloomberg ally. “The guy is not the most on-message person. It’s the desperate last days in Iowa and he’s ranting.”
Gingrich blindsided City Hall on Wednesday by portraying himself as a middle-class candidate and going after the mayor for being so darn rich.
“We don’t come from a background where we can buy a seat or buy, as Mayor Bloomberg did, buy the mayorship of New York,” Gingrich said. “I mean, if you just look at how much he spent, he just wrote a check and bought it.”
The attack was surprising on a number of fronts.
For one thing, Bloomberg is hardly a household name in Iowa and — until Wednesday, at least — was on friendly terms with the former House speaker.
Only three weeks ago, the mayor praised Gingrich when asked what he thought of his visit to New York for a meet-up with Donald Trump.
“Whether you agree with him or not, he is certainly a smart guy,” Bloomberg said at the time.
The mayor reacted to Gingrich’s stinging comments yesterday as though he had more important things on his mind.
“Did he say something?” Bloomberg asked at a Brooklyn press conference, drawing laughs.
“Look, my job is to do more events like this, to be able to say that life expectancy [is up], that crime has gone down, deaths by traffic [are down], that schools are improving, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.”
One insider insisted the mayor “could care less” that Gingrich went after him.
Another source put it more bluntly: “I don’t think he gives a s—.”
Veteran political consultant Jerry Skurnik said Gingrich’s missive was obviously intended as a hit on rival Mitt Romney, who is worth an estimated $200 million and who has called Gingrich “very rich.”