Columbia, South Carolina (CNN) - GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich tried to refute negative charges with another "Ask Newt" tele-town hall with Iowans Thursday evening.
Although these calls are intended to clear up any "falsehoods," the fact that Gingrich continues to defend his pro-life record and explain his ties to Freddie Mac is an indication the former House speaker is struggling getting his message out.
Gingrich, who has vowed not to engage in negative advertising, is finding himself up against more than a million dollars worth of television and radio ads, direct mail, and robo calls by his opponents and third-party groups in the weeks leading up to the January 3 Iowa caucuses.
While campaigning in Virginia earlier Thursday Gingrich said, "There's no question it has an impact and so we have to now overcome that impact."
That might be proving to be more difficult than the he had anticipated. This was the second "Ask Newt" call in five days in which he addressed his position on abortion reform and his consulting work with federally backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
This time he defended his record on abortion funding by contrasting his record with his campaign rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
“There is a suggestion that I was in favor of funding abortions in China. That is just plain factually false," Gingrich said. "There’s a very sharp difference here between Gov. Romney and myself. Gov. Romney signed a health care bill, which provided for the state of Massachusetts to pay for abortions.”
He added that Romney also signed a provision that put Planned Parenthood on the board that decides on payments in the health system.
He also brought up his support for gun rights. "I am a deep, passionate believer in the Second Amendment. The right to bear arms comes to us from God and comes to us before the Constitution," Gingrich said. "I will do everything I can to protect your right as outlined in the Constitution, but coming from our creator."
Gingrich participated from northern Virginia in the tele-town hall with Iowans. He answered questions for about 50 minutes and used the call as an opportunity to recruit caucus volunteers.
"The right to bear arms comes to us from God..." God wants us to have guns? Never heard that in my church. Go figure!
Gingrich can't deny all the negative news because some of it is true. Just because someone says something negative about you doesn't mean it isn't true. When he can show undeniable proof that these are lies, then people will listen.
The ads mean nothing. Newt's big mouth and delusional ideas did him in again.
If Mitt Romney is the eventual nominee, then I think a Paul/Gingrich 3rd party ticket would make this an interesting race.
If Newt would keep his mouth shut, he would not lose so much support. The more Mittens talks gloom and doom, the more people realize that he supports the wealthy, big corporations, and big oil. Mittens received more than $13 million from Bain last year, and wants 99% of us to pay more.