Newt Gingrich refers to Mitt Romney as ‘some liberal from Massachusetts’

By Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff

THE VILLAGES, Fla. -- Newt Gingrich attempted to draw a starker ideological divide between himself and Mitt Romney today, as time dwindled for the former House speaker to retake the momentum before Tuesday’s crucial Republican presidential primary in Florida.

“I am, in fact, the legitimate heir to the Republican movement -- not some liberal from Massachusetts,” Gingrich told a sprawling crowd of hundreds at a strip mall parking lot in this enclave of senior communities.

“We need somebody who can draw a sharp distinction” against President Obama, Gingrich said, suggesting the former Bay State governor would have difficulty differentiating his policies from those of the president, especially on health care.

Gingrich will be pulling out some of his big guns tomorrow to help him stump for conservative voters. Michael Reagan, whose father, President Reagan, is lionized among many Republicans, will campaign with Gingrich, as will Herman Cain, the erstwhile candidate for president.

Cain, whose campaign imploded under allegations of sexual harassment, endorsed Gingrich at an event in West Palm Beach last night.

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, has stopped short of endorsing Gingrich but came to his defense in recent days. In a Facebook posting on Friday, she denounced attacks against Gingrich as “Stalin-esque,” and voiced “concern about the GOP establishment trying to anoint a candidate without the blessing of the grassroots.”

She noted that the GOP could be in the midst of a war between the establishment and its Tea Party wing.

With new polls today showing him stumbling behind Romney, Gingrich was in a desperate race against the clock to make up ground. He noted in stump speeches that much of his struggles were due to Romney’s massive warchest.

“We’re down to the last couple of days of a very, very important primary,” he told the crowd.

“I have an opponent with money power, and we need people power to offset money power,” he said.

He said the country needed a president with big ideas, not a manager who will oversee a country in decay -- a clear jab at Romney’s claim that strong business acumen is what is needed in the White House.

At an appearance earlier today at a Baptist church north of Tampa, Gingrich reiterated his conservative credentials on such social issues as abortion to church-goers attending a “sanctity of life” service.

Gingrich’s spokesman dismissed polls that showed him trailing Romney, saying that he was in a similar position in South Carolina. Behind in polls during most of the campaign in the Palmetto State, Gingrich surged in the final days to beat Romney.

Conversely, Gingrich arrived in Florida flying high in the polls, but a quick barrage of ads from Romney and a super PAC aligned with him appeared to slow Gingrich’s momentum. Gingrich has not been able to return the same intensity of attacks.

“Mitt Romney is walking around with a very sharp shovel because he keeps digging the ditch deeper, keeps making the gutter deeper that politics is played in,” said R.C. Hammond, Gingrich’s spokesman.