Gingrich releases Freddie Mac contract ahead of debate

Newt Gingrich released one year of his contract with mortgage giant Freddie Mac Monday evening, shortly before the GOP presidential debate.

The contract only covers $300,000 of the $1.7 million he earned from Freddie Mac, and only one out of three years he worked there. But it should undercut attacks from Mitt Romney that he has yet to release his contracts.

Florida was one of the epicenters of the mortgage meltdown which Freddie Mac helped trigger. Gingrich has long claimed he was a "historian" for the group and did no lobbying, but Romney's campaign has called his hair-splitting in recent days and slammed Gingrich for not releasing his full contracts.

The released documents contain almost no details of what Gingrich actually did for the company: One clause says that he must require a regular "detailed description of the services performed during the prior month."

Until those reports comes out, it is likely Romney will continue to hammer him on the matter, and  questions from the press will likely continue. But the move was seen as a good one politically ahead of Monday's debate.

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