Gingrich angrily rejects marital question at debate

CHARLESTON, S.C., (Reuters) – Republican  presidential candidate Newt Gingrich angrily defended himself yesterday against allegations that he had asked his ex-wife for  an open marriage, lashing out in perhaps the most crucial debate  yet in the 2012 campaign.

Newt Gingrich

The CNN-sponsored debate got off to a raucous start when  moderator John King asked Gingrich to respond to charges put  forth by his ex-wife Marianne that he had sought an “open  marriage” while having an affair.

The impropriety charges have dogged Gingrich for years and  threaten to slow his momentum in South Carolina as he seeks to  upset front-runner Mitt Romney in the first primary vote in the  South on Saturday.

“I think the disruptive, vicious, negative nature of the  news media makes it harder to govern this country,” Gingrich  fumed. “I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate  on a topic like that.”  The Republican crowd roared its approval of Gingrich.

The was the final chance for rivals to chip away at Romney’s  lead in South Carolina and Gingrich, the former speaker of the  U.S. House of Representatives, had perhaps the best shot.  Romney came into the debate under strong pressure to turn  back Gingrich, who received the endorsement of Texas Governor  Rick Perry who dropped out of the race early yesterday.

Romney, a former private equity executive, insisted the  company for whom he worked did in fact help create more than  100,000 jobs despite doubts about that expressed by experts.

Romney’s experience at Bain Capital, which bought companies  and restructured them sometimes resulting in job losses, has  hurt him in South Carolina where unemployment remains around 10  percent. Gingrich lobs frequent attacks at him on this.

Romney said Bain helped nurture companies that created  120,000 jobs while business failures cost about 10,000 jobs for  a net increase of 100,000.

“People have evaluated that since I ran four years ago,”  said Romney, who lost the Republican presidential race in 2008  to Senator John McCain.

Romney will take a huge step toward claiming the Republican  nomination if he wins on Saturday.

Fighting for their political lives at the debate were former  Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and libertarian Congressman  Ron Paul of Texas.

GINGRICH GETS CLOSER

A strong performance in a debate in South Carolina on Monday  helped him get within touching distance in the polls of Romney,   who has struggled to explain why he has not released his tax  forms. But Gingrich has faced troubling questions that could halt  his momentum. His second wife, Marianne, told ABC News that  Gingrich had sought an open marriage while having an affair with  current wife Callista. She said he should not be considered  electable in the race to find a Republican challenger to  Democratic President Barack Obama in next November’s election.