Mitt Romney slapped down Newt Gingrich on Friday for making "self-aggrandizing statements" about the likelihood of his becoming the Republican presidential nominee.
"Over the last year there have been a lot of people who have been real
high in the polls who are not high in the polls anymore," Romney said
on Fox News. "There's this funny thing in America, it's called an 'election.' To win an election you've got to earn it."
Gingrich the day before had declared, "I'm going to be the nominee."
He pointed to his abrupt rise in recent polls as proof.
“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," Gingrich told ABC
News.
"Self-aggrandizing statements about polls are not going to win
elections," Romney said on Fox. "I'm not going to count the chickens
before they hatch; there is an election that has to happen. ... The
polls bounce around a lot, but fortunately, over the last year, I've
been able to have a pretty strong spot in the opinions of people in
this country."
Romney and Gingrich have taken cautious steps toward a face-off this
week, with both front-runners offering compliments for the other before
providing comparison points.
Romney supporter New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie didn't hold back in
his assessment on Thursday, slamming Gingrich for being a legislator, rather than a governor like Romney.
“Speaker Gingrich has never run anything,” he said in Florida,
according to multiple reports. “And he’s been a legislator. I have to
tell you, I don’t think being a legislator is the best calling card.
Look at the guy we have in the White House now. He never ran anything
and was a legislator.”
Romney stood by Christie's remarks, and laughed off his statement as
"hardly an attack" on Gingrich.
"I think America needs to have a leader who's run things," Romney said
on Fox. "I'm sure if America feels that we need somebody who's lived
in Washington for the last 40 years to run the country, he's a good
choice. I actually believe that what we need is someone who's lived out
in America, not in Washington."
Romney's appearance on "Fox & Friends" comes after a day of criticism
for his Fox News interview earlier in the week on Bret Baier's
"Special Report."
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) spent some energy criticizing the
interview as "disastrous" and promoting Romney's fellow Republican, Jon
Huntsman's, own attack video using interview footage. Baier also went
on another Fox News show to accuse Romney of complaining that the
interview was too "aggressive."
Romney did not want to discuss the Baier interview on Friday, simply
saying "it worked pretty well" and calling it "a good opportunity" to
"bat back" some of the mud-slinging by the DNC.
