Romney: We'll meet with NBC about Brokaw clip in ad

Video: Romney: Gingrich attacks ‘painful to watch’

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   >>> governor mitt romney joins us now from jacksonville, florida . good morning, governor.

   >> thanks, matt. good to be with you.

   >> nine days ago you took a drubbing in south carolina . now according to most of the polls you have opened up a substantial lead in florida . in your opinion, what is behind the dramatic turn anin momentum?

   >> two things. we were being whaled on by speaker gingrich and didn't respond well in south carolina . so we decided to respond. secondly, we made it clear if people want change in washington you have to bring in someone from outside washington . both the change in tactic as well as the message have had a real impact in florida .

   >> you say you were getting whaled on in south carolina . fascinating article on the front page of the new york times yesterday. some of your advisers spoke on the record about the turnaround in momentum. here's how the writer summed it up. quote, if mr. romney does win here on tuesday it will have been through a blistering and unrelenting series of attacks. his campaign has pressed everything at its disposal into service to eviscerate mr. gingrich , painting him as an erratic, unreliable washington insider in mailings and television advertisements and at two critical debates here. even sending supporters to mock him at his own events. what's your response?

   >> no question that politics ain't bean bags . we have made sure our message is out loud and clear. the speaker has been attacking me all over the state in ways that are extraordinary. in some respects painful to watch because it's so revealing of him. the fact is he worked with hundreds of people in washington . only a handful of those people are willing to support him. he's a nice fellow, but his leadership capability has been called into question by virtue of people who worked with him.

   >> what surprised me about the article, one was that so many advisers were willing to speak on the record about tactics you may continue using and it paints the picture that your turn around in the polls is a result of their diabolical brilliance and less about your connecting with voters in florida .

   >> i think you can expect advisers to think the work of advisers is very, very important. if you were to look at where sentiment changed it was with the debates. we had two debates. icon fronted speaker gingrich . he said, let's not talk about the things i have been saying about you, governor romney . i said, no, no, let me respond. i pushed back on the attacks, launched my own message to the people in florida .

   >> right.

   >> pointed out that speaker gingrich was paid by freddie mac to be a spokesman for them and the people understood that and came to my side.

   >> he's proved to be resilient in the past coming back on more than one occasion. is the message now that you will continue to pound away at speaker gingrich well into the spring no matter how the caucuses and primaries are going?

   >> i anticipate doing well. we have a number of states coming up. i think i will do well in them. i'm going to do the work that's necessary to get my message out and talk about the change that has to be brought to washington to get jobs back to this country. how it gets done and the mess sanls are connecting with people. my expectation is i will become the nominee. however long it takes i will keep on balting.

   >> your campaign released an ad about newt gingrich 's fall from grace in the 1990s and the entire ad is basically -- a colleague of mine, tom brokaw recounting the fact that newt gingrich was asked to step down as house speaker on ethics charges. nbc news, as you know, has asked you to pull the ad. tom brokaw released a statement saying, quote, i'm uncomfortable with the use of my image in this ad. i do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign. will your campaign withdraw the ad?

   >> we'll sit down with the lawyers, talk to the folks at nbc and make a decision on that front. i think the reason it was so effective as an ad was this is not something which speaker gingrich could say was distorted or romney was saying things not accurate. this is the news from the night when the speaker was sanctioned, reprimanded eed by his own members. people heard the news. straight on. no heavy music that suggested a sinister background. instead, tom brokaw , a credible and respected journalist, reporting the news. i think it was devastating and pointed out what speaker gingrich was trying to hide is in the open.

   >> you will consider pulling it if that's what the decision of the campaign is?

   >> we'll certainly consider it very carefully. obviously this was not something taken from hidden files . this was on the evening news. so it should hardly come as a revealing piece for people who watch it.

   >> thanks for your time this morning. i really appreciate it.

   >> thanks, matt. good to be

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