Gingrich-Romney ad campaigns aim to break open tight race

New polls confirm Newt Gingrich has surged to a tie with Mitt Romney in Florida, and at the same time, the comparatively cash-strapped Gingrich is being boosted by a $6 million Florida ad buy from an independent political committee.

A simultaneous $4.5 million ad buy by a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney means both candidates will have saturation ad campaigns running through Tuesday's Florida primary.

The PACs won't talk about their advertising strategy, but both have new negative ads out.

Restore Our Future, backing Romney, has two – one saying Republicans would "risk four more years of Barack Obama" by nominating Gingrich, and one contesting Gingrich's assertion that he worked closely with former President Ronald Reagan.

A new ad by Winning Our Future, which supports Gingrich, links Romney's Massachusetts health care plan to the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act. The ad says Romney "invented government-run health care," and includes video of him calling himself a "moderate Republican" with "progressive" views.

The attack pattern seems likely to continue into tonight's second Florida debate among the four major contenders for the GOP nomination: Gingrich, Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.

Asked whether Romney will be as aggressive as in Monday night's University of South Florida debate, spokesman Ryan Williams said, "Absolutely." He said Romney may focus on suggestions by Democrats of previously unrevealed information about the 1990s congressional ethics investigation of Gingrich.

Gingrich has focused on Romney's past as what he calls a moderate – "pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, pro-tax increase and pro-gun control," he told a crowd in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

A couple of charges by Gingrich against Romney ran into trouble Wednesday, however, when Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, probably the state's most popular GOP officeholder, strongly took Romney's side, despite his public stance of neutrality in the primary.

Rubio objected both to a Gingrich Spanish-language ad calling Romney "anti-immigrant," and to Gingrich's linking Romney to former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Gingrich pulled the ad after Rubio called it "inflammatory" and a group of influential Florida Hispanics backing Romney, including former Sen. Mel Martinez, objected to it in a published letter. They said it would "reinforce President Obama's attacks on Republicans."

Crist is now anathema among Republicans for leaving the party to run against Rubio in 2010. Gingrich has boasted that his Florida campaign director, Jose Mallea, also directed Rubio's upset win, adding half-jokingly that Romney has hired some former Crist staffers.

Asked whether Gingrich is seriously suggesting a link, Mallea said Romney has "taken a page from the Charlie Crist playbook," going negative in response to sliding in the polls.

In a statement through a spokesman, Rubio responded, "Mitt Romney is no Charlie Crist," saying Romney was one of the first nationally known Republicans to endorse him against Crist, and "made a real difference in my race."

A Quinnipiac University poll Thursday showed Gingrich and Romney in a statistical tie, with Romney's previous former 12-point lead almost wiped out.

In the poll, Romney tallied 36 percent, Gingrich 34 percent, Santorum 13 percent, Paul 10 percent, and someone else/don't know, 8 percent, in a sample of 601 likely primary voters with a 4-point error margin. Romney had led 36-24 percent in a Jan. 9 Quinnipiac poll.

The poll suggests the effect of Gingrich's South Carolina win may have been dramatic.

Gingrich also led 43-30 percent, also with a higher error margin, among those who describe themselves as white, born-again evangelicals.

A CNN/Time poll released Wednesday also showed a near tie.

In the poll of 369 likely voters with a 5-point error margin, Romney got 36 percent; Gingrich 34 percent; Santorum 11 percent, Paul 9 percent and "unsure" answers 7 percent.

CNN pollster Keating Holland said Gingrich had nearly doubled his Florida support since the South Carolina primary but has dropped slightly since the Monday debate.

It's been widely reported that Winning Our Future, which recently got a $5 million donation from Las Vegas gambling magnate Sheldon Adelson, has received another $5 million from Adelson's wife, and made a $6 million Florida ad buy.

Officials of the PAC didn't return emails for comment Wednesday.

Mallea said the poll numbers mirror the bigger-than-expected crowds and swelling ranks of volunteers for the Gingrich campaign.

He said 6,000 people showed up for a Naples rally Tuesday where the campaign expected 1,000 people, and added, "We picked up 1,500 volunteers between Saturday and the end of the day yesterday."