GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich downplayed expectations for the Iowa caucuses, telling reporters on Monday he doesn’t believe he will win.
“I don’t think I’m going to win,” the former House Speaker said reports the Associated Press.
Gingrich said his efforts had been set back by the “volume of negativity” from his Republican rivals.
Since vaulting to front runner status in numerous polls in December, Gingrich has faced withering attacks from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul (Texas). PAC’s backing those candidates have run blanketed Iowa with ads attacking him.
Gingrich has admitted that the ad campaigns against him have taken a toll. Last week in an email to supporters he appealed for funds to fight back writing that “we are facing a barrage of attacks trying to paint me as something other than the experienced conservative in the race.”
Polls in early December showed Gingrich surging in the Hawkeye state and drawing the support of over 30 percent of likely GOP caucus-goers. That support has mostly evaporated in the last month. The key Des Moines Register poll released Saturday showed Gingrich in fourth place with only 14 percent behind Romney, Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
Gingrich though vowed on Monday to continue his campaign in New Hampshire and South Carolina regardless of how he finishes in Iowa.
Gingrich said it was “a victory that I’m still standing.”
{The Hill/Matzav.com Newscenter}
