He says he's not dropping out of the Republican race for the White House.
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich received a warm welcome when he came to Frederick on Monday. He was met by a large and enthusiastic crowd as he entered the showroom at Frederick Motor Company on Waverly Drive.
The former US House Speaker addressed calls that he should drop out of the presidential race, given former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney lead in the number of delegates. "Despite six years of campaigning, $40-million of his own money, millions raised from Wall Street, largely from people who got our tax money as a bailout, Governor Romney doesn't have locked down. And we have no obligation to back off and concede anything," said Gingrich, to a boisterous applause.
While he says he will support Romney if he's nominated, Gingrich said he will be going to the GOP Convention in Tampa, Florida on August 27th through August 30th because "we are going to fight for a conservative platform."
Gingrich says one of the planks in that conservative platform includes energy independence through increased domestic production. "I am deeply committed to an American energy independence plan so no future president will ever again bow to a Saudi king," he said.
He also said the platform should contain requirements for a balanced federal budget, and moving Social Security off the budget so that members of Congress don't raid the fund to help erase a deficit. In addition, while protecting Social Security for its current recipients, Gingrich says he wants to see the entitlement program as more of a personal account for future generations.
Another item that Gingrich wants to see in a conservative platform is a re-affirmation of religious liberty in the US. "The idea that we have in President Obama somebody who apologizes to radical Islamic extremists while they're killing young Americans, and simultaneously wages war against the Catholic Church is about as far from the American experience as you can get," he says.
Gingrich was scheduled to visit Hood College on Monday to deliver a speech and meet with the school's Young Republicans.
The visit came a day prior to Republican primaries in Maryland, DC and Wisconsin, where Romney is expected to win.
