Mitt Romney on Monday morning previewed his debate strategy against Newt Gingrich, attacking the former House Speaker for not releasing the details of his work with mortgage giant Freddie Mac and the ethics investigation against him.
"With Newt Gingrich, it's an October surprise every day," Romney said on Fox News. "Let's make sure that we understand what was in the work product that he was providing to Freddie Mac. What was the contract, what did they pay him for? You don't pay someone $1.7 million just to write his history. Did he write their history? Let's see the work product. Did he lay out their history, or did he write policy and provide access to people in power?"
The former Massachusetts governor has struck a more aggressive tone against Gingrich since losing Saturday's South Carolina primary to him by 12 points.
Gingrich's strong debate performances the week before the primary were credited with helping his win, particularly his calls for Romney to release his tax returns.
That call became the main issue in the South Carolina race. After his loss, Romney said he would release his returns on Tuesday.
Romney likely hopes his calls for Gingrich to release information about his past become the main issue in Florida, which is the next state to vote.
The four remaining GOP presidential candidates meet tonight at 9 p.m. in Tampa for the first of two debates this week.
Romney's new tactic also comes as an an InsiderAdvantage poll released late Sunday showed Gingrich leading in the Sunshine State, 34 percent support to Romney's 26.
The former governor also called on Gingrich to release details surrounding the 1997 ethics investigation Gingrich was under while he was House Speaker. The official report was released by the ethics committee after the investigation was completed, but there are indications several supporting documents were not.
"Nancy Pelosi had made comments about the full transcript about what went on with the ethics probe," Romney noted on Fox News. "Let's look at the full record of what was said, as opposed to the sanitized record of the report, because you know if Nancy Pelosi has that record it's ultimately going to be in the hands of the president if Newt Gingrich were to become the nominee.
"So let's get it out there now, have a chance to see it, see what's coming down the road in the general election," Romney continued. "And I think you're going to find, in the past, that Newt Gingrich has been very vociferous about protecting that record and making sure it doesn't get released. I don't know why he doesn't want to have it released — let's get it out there."
Pelosi sat on the ethics committee at the time Gingrich was investigated. She indicated to Talking Points Memo in early December that she could reveal information about Gingrich at a later date.
