Romney, Gingrich trade attacks on immigration
The Republican presidential race turned into a pitched battle for Hispanic voters on Wednesday, with Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney hurling insults over immigration policy as each looked for ways to court a critical constituency.
The shift reflected the nature of the Jan. 31 primary in Florida, where Hispanics will be a major factor for the first time in this year’s presidential contest. Florida is home to about 1 million Cuban Americans, a heavily Republican voting bloc.
But it also has implications for the fall campaign, with both parties planning aggressive outreach campaigns to reach Hispanic swing voters in several battleground states.
Gingrich lobbed the first attack on Wednesday, poking fun at Romney during an appearance on Miami-based Univision, the country’s biggest Spanish-language network. Gingrich peppered his remarks with halting Spanish as he accused Romney of living in a “fantasy land” for suggesting in a debate that the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants should “self deport.”
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