Kingston: Santorum muscles way into contention, predicts negative Romney campaigning

Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston, who has been among Newt Gingrich's most passionate congressional surrogates, acknowledged Wednesday that Rick Santorum's trio of victories Tuesday night — coupled with a rough showing for the former House Speaker — meant that the former Pennsylvania senator would be taken more seriously as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.

"Santorum has benefited from the fact that it has been perceived as a two-man race. All the attacks have been on Newt. Now if Rick is going to be rising in the polls, I think he's going to start getting negative ads too," Kingston told CNN Wednesday.

The Romney campaign has already begun debuting some of their lines of attack, with Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom calling Santorum and Gingrich "two peas in a pod" in an interview with MSNBC earlier Wednesday.

Fehrnstrom characterized the pair as "longtime Washington legislators who never really left Washington," and argued their nomination would mean a general election between "two insiders" as they faced President Obama in November.

The Romney campaign has also hit Santorum for accepting earmarks and voting to raise the debt ceiling during his time in Congress.

Kingston predicted these attacks, paired with a series of upcoming debates, could help Gingrich regain momentum in the race.

"We're going back into debate season. We have four debates between now and Super Tuesday, which is Newt's home court advantage," Kingston said. "We're feeling good about things."

Kingston went on to say that he expected Gingrich to focus on campaigning in the Southern states where he has preformed best thus far — and that offer some of the best opportunities to bridge the delegate gap. The Gingrich campaign announced later Wednesday that the former Speaker would return next week to campaign in Georgia, the state he represented while serving in Congress.

Still, Gingrich can expect conservatives who do not support Romney to suggest he consider an exit from the race to allow the right to coalesce around Santorum.

But Kingston said that Santorum's new prominence would earn him the brunt of the negative campaigning in coming weeks.

"Mostly from the Romney folks," Kingston said. "I think the super-PACs will come in there as well."

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