Full transcript. Excerpt below:
DAVID GREGORY:Related:
09:02:46:00 Speaker Gingrich, why shouldn't Governor Romney be the nominee of this party? What about his record concerns you most or makes him-- disqualified to be the nominee?
NEWT GINGRICH:
09:02:58:00 Look, I-- I think what Republicans have to ask is who's most likely in the long run-- to survive against the kind of billion dollar campaign the Obama team is gonna run. And I think that a bold Reagan conservative with a very strong economic plan is a lot more likely to succeed in that campaign than a relatively timid Massachusetts moderate who even The Wall Street Journal said had an economy plan so timid it resembled Obama.
09:03:25:00 So I think you've gotta look at, you know, Massachusetts was fourth from the bottom in job creation under Governor Romney. I-- we created 11 million jobs while I was Speaker and I worked with governor-- with President Reagan in the entire recover of the 1980s. That is they-- there's a huge difference between a Reagan conservative and somebody who comes out of the Massachusetts culture with an essentially moderate record who I think will have a very hard time in a debate with president.
09:03:49:00 (OVERTALK)
DAVID GREGORY:
09:03:49:00 Speaker Gingrich, bottom line, you believe that Governor Romney is unelectable?
NEWT GINGRICH:
09:03:52:00 Well, I don't believe he's unelectable but I think he has a much-- I-- look, against Obama's record, I think , you know, the fact is President Obama's gonna have a very hard reelection effort. But I do think the bigger the contrast, the bolder ideas, the clearer the choice, the harder it is for that billion dollar campaign to smear his way back into office.
DAVID GREGORY:
09:04:10:00 Speaker, this your flier that you're--
NEWT GINGRICH:
09:04:12:00 Right.
DAVID GREGORY:
09:04:12:00 --circulating here in New Hampshire. It says very clearly, "Romney is not electable."
NEWT GINGRICH:
09:04:15:00 I think he will have a very hard time getting reelected. Getting elected?
DAVID GREGORY:
09:04:19:00 Governor?
MITT ROMNEY:
09:04:22:00 David-- I'm very proud of the record that I have and I think the one thing you can't fool the people about New Hampshire about is-- the record of a governor next door. And people have watched me over my term as governor and saw that I was a solid conservative and that I brought important change to Massachusetts.
09:04:36:00 They recognized that I cut taxes 19 times. Balanced the budget every one of the four years I was in governor. Put in place a $2 billion rainy day fund by the time I'd gone. We had-- we'd seen job losses-- in the month leading up to my-- becoming-- the governor and then we began to finally create jobs. And by the way, we created more jobs-- in Massachusetts than Barack Obama's created in the entire country.
09:04:58:00 We also got our state police to enforce illegal immigration law, put in place-- English immersion in our schools. I'm very proud of the conservative record I have and I think that's why some of the leading conservatives in today's-- world who are fighting the conservative battles of today that don't have any axe to grind have gotten behind my campaign.
09:05:16:00 Governor Nikki Haley of-- of South Carolina. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. Right here, the great senator of-- of New Hampshire, Ken-- Kelly Ayotte. These are conservative who looked at my record, looked at my plan to get this economy going.
09:05:29:00 I happen to believe that if we want to replace a lifetime politician like Barack Obama, who had no experience leading anything, you have to choose someone who's not been a lifelong politician, who has not spent his tire-- en-- entire career in Washington, and instead has proven time and again he could lead in the private sector twice, in the Olympics and as a governor. We've got to nominate a leader if we're gonna replace someone who is not a leader.
- Video: GOP New Hampshire Presidential Debate (1-7-12)
- Transcript: New Hampshire GOP Presidential Debate (1-7-12)
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