WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Newt Gingrich, whose sudden surge in the polls has propelled him to the top of the GOP pack, confidently asserted Thursday that he will be the Republican Party’s nominee in 2012.
The former House Speaker made the remarks during an interview with ABC News in West Des Moines, Iowa.
“I’m going to be the nominee,” he said. “It’s very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I’m going to be the nominee.”
His comments came during a discussion about his recent declaration that he would refrain from criticizing any of his rivals in TV ads.
On Wednesday afternoon, Gingrich sent a fundraising email to supporters saying that every penny contributed to his campaign would be used to run an “honest campaign” and that there would be “no attack ads against my friends who are also seeking the Republican nomination.”
Gingrich, 68, was written off by political pundits earlier in the year after he failed to gain traction in polls and saw his campaign staff resign en masse in June after complaints about his lax travel schedule to early states. However, in the last month he has resuscitated his campaign with a series of strong debate performances and benefited from the stumbles of rivals such as businessman Herman Cain and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has held steady at about 25 percent support of Republicans nationally, Gingrich has eclipsed him in five recent polls and has also surged to the front of the pack in the early nominating states of Iowa and South Carolina. Romney still retains a lead in New Hampshire, though he has seen Gingrich bite into his lead.
Gingrich told ABC he was not worried about upcoming attack ads from the Romney campaign and would continue to focus on a common foe — President Barack Obama.
“It’s not going to be very effective and people are going to get sick of it very fast,” he said. “The guys who attacked each other in the debates up to now, every single one of them have lost ground by attacking. So they should do what they and their consultants want to do. I will focus on being substantive and I will focus on Barack Obama.”