CUMMING, Ga. — Newt Gingrich, seeking to rejuvenate his presidential bid in his home state, warned members of a Georgia church Sunday that the “secular left” is trying to undermine the Founding Fathers’ American principles.
The former House speaker is bypassing Tuesday’s Republican presidential primaries in Michigan and Arizona to spend most of the week in Georgia, which he represented in Congress for 20 years. Americans have faced a “50-year assault” by those trying to alienate people of faith, Gingrich said at First Redeemer Church, north of Atlanta.
“The forces of the secular left believe passionately and deeply and with ... a religious fervor in their worldview, and they will regard what I am saying as a horrifying assault on what they think is the truth,” Gingrich said. “Because their version of the truth is to have a totally neutral government that has no meaning.”
Gingrich’s campaign has struggled since winning South Carolina’s GOP primary on Jan. 21 as former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania has emerged as Mitt Romney’s chief rival.
Gingrich is trying to regain traction in Georgia, Tennessee and a group of states that are voting March 6.
The nation’s founding was supported by people of faith, Gingrich said at First Redeemer, and those principles are under attack by President Barack Obama’s administration.
“You loan power to the government, the government does not loan power to you,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich also criticized Obama’s decision to apologize for the burning of Korans at a military base in Afghanistan. The incident has led to violent riots in Afghanistan in which four U.S. soldiers have been killed.
George Washington would not have apologized for an incident that led to the killing of young Americans, Gingrich said. “We are supposed to apologize to those who are killing us? I don’t think so,” Gingrich said to applause.
Gingrich travels today to Tennessee, where he will attend campaign events in Nashville, and then return to Georgia for a bus tour of the state. He has said a victory in Georgia is critical to his presidential bid but has stopped short of saying it would end his campaign, predicting the Republican contests are likely to extend deep into the spring.
SANTORUM AGREES
Santorum agreed with Gingrich that Obama shouldn’t have apologized for the Koran burning.
“A mistake was made- he should not have apologized for something that wasn’t done deliberately,” Santorum said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “It shows weakness. If it was a mistake, then to apologize isn’t the right thing to do.”
The Democratic president could have characterized the Koran burning as “unfortunate” and said “what happened was wrong,” Santorum said.
In an interview Sunday on ABC’s This Week program, Santorum said he doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state, noting that a speech by John F. Kennedy before he was elected president troubles him.
“I don’t believe that the separation of church and state is absolute,” Santorum said. “The First Amendment means the free exercise of religion, and that means bringing people and their faith into the public square.”
Kennedy’s 1960 speech in Houston was an “absolutist doctrine” with which he said he disagrees.
“To say that people of faith have no role in the public square? What makes me throw up is someone who is now trying to tell people that you will do what the government says,” Santorum said. “That now we’re going to turn around and impose our values from the government on people of faith.”
“There are people I disagree with,” Santorum said. “Come into our town hall meetings, and let’s have a discussion. Air your ideas and why you believe what you believe.
“That’s what America is all about - bringing in that diversity. What we saw in Kennedy’s speech was just the opposite, and that’s what’s so upsetting about it.”
‘TURN RACE ON ITS EAR’
Santorum, who describes himself as the true conservative on fiscal and social issues, said Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, isn’t conservative enough to deserve the GOP nomination.
Santorum urged Michigan voters to turn the race “on its ear” by rejecting Romney in Tuesday’s primary in his native state, where Romney is spending heavily to avoid an upset. Romney’s record is virtually identical to Obama’s on some key issues, especially mandated health coverage, Santorum said, making Romney a weak potential nominee.
“Why would we give away the most salient issue in this election?” an impassioned Santorum told more than 100 people in a remote snow-covered region of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Romney, who visited the Daytona 500 in Florida before he traveled to Michigan, rejected the characterization.
“The biggest misconception would be that I’m a guy that comes from Massachusetts and therefore I can’t be conservative,” Romney told Fox News Sunday. In his one term as Massachusetts governor, he said, he balanced budgets, reduced taxes, enforced immigration laws, “stood up for traditional marriage” and was “a pro-life governor.”
“I’m a solid conservative,” Romney said.
Romney also said he thinks he’s “making progess” in the nomination fight and that he can come from behind to win his home state of Michigan in this week’s primary.
“I think I can show I can fight real hard and come from behind,” he said. “I’m planning on winning here in Michigan, and also in Arizona. That’ll be huge, having come from so far behind here in Michigan.”
AN ARIZONA ENDORSEMENT
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer endorsed Romney on Sunday.
Brewer’s backing comes as Romney holds a sizable lead in Arizona two days before the state’s primary. Announcing her endorsement on NBC’s Meet the Press, Brewer said she was drawn to Romney’s candidacy because of his “pro-business background” and ability to win.
“It was a difficult decision, but I think Mitt by far is the person who can go in and win,” Brewer said. “It’s been an interesting campaign ... but I think things will settle down, and I think after Super Tuesday we’ll have our candidate.”
Brewer, who met with Romney before last week’s CNN debate in Mesa, Ariz., said the field included “wonderful people,” but that Romney in particular performed well on the debate stage.
Brewer joins an array of Arizona elected officials who are backing Romney, including Sen. John McCain, the party’s 2008 presidential nominee.
CHRISTIE: ANYTHING POSSIBLE
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie isn’t ruling out the possibility the topsy-turvy GOP presidential race will end up in a contested party convention this summer if Romney loses Tuesday’s Michigan primary.
Christie, who has endorsed Romney, says he thinks Romney will beat Santorum - and that would lessen chances of a convention fight.
But Christie notes the race has had several different front-runners and probably will keep going up and down.
“We have to be patient and take a deep breath and let this process work its way out,” Christie said.
Although Christie claims he is not interested in a vice presidential bid, he would listen if Romney asked. “I love my party enough and I love my country enough to listen.” Information for this article was contributed by Ken Thomas, Charles Babington and Kasie Hunt of The Associated Press; by Sara Forden and Clea Benson of Bloomberg News; and by Philip Rucker of The Washington Post.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/27/2012