Across Iowa, Gingrich Highlights His Experience As Poll Numbers Slip

At every stop in Iowa, former House speaker Newt Gingrich touts his experience. He calls himself a "supply-side conservative" who worked with Ronald Reagan in the 80's and again as House speaker in the 90's to revive the economy.

But he's not averse to a good photo op.

At The Chocolate Season in Algona Wednesday, owner Erika Jensen showed Gingrich and his wife Calista how to make hand-dipped chocolates.

It gave him an opportunity to pick up a feud he's been having with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Earlier in the week after Gingrich failed to qualify for the Virginia Republican primary ballot, Romney compared the Gingrich campaign to a well-known episode of the old "I Love Lucy" TV show.

"Gov. Romney had a cute line yesterday about my team resembling Lucy in the chocolate factory. And I just want to say, "Here I am in the chocolate factory," joked Gingrich, to applause.

Once again, Gingrich challenged Romney to a series of one on one debates—a challenge he acknowledged Romney was not likely to accept. After leading for a time in Iowa, Gingrich has been dropping in the polls—in large part because of attack ads run by opponents.

His campaign says they're not out of money. They announced a $500,000 ad buy for the closing week in Iowa. But the fact remains that Gingrich has been outspent and is trying to regain his momentum one campaign event at a time.

A Time/CNN poll out on Wednesday showed Gingrich down to 14 percent support among likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa, a state he once lead, trailing Romney, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and now even former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

On Thursday, Gingrich was continuing his bus tour of the state with stops scheduled in Sioux City, Storm Lake, Denison and Carroll.

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