John McCain, Romney’s top surrogate, held a conference call with reporters Wednesday to discuss Newt Gingrich’s record on earmarks while Speaker of the House. McCain stressed that Gingrich saw earmarks as an election tool, encouraged them as a way to help members in reelection battles, and encouraged those in charge of appropriations to take elections into account when divvying up money. He referred to a 1996 memo as proof that this was an explicit Gingrich strategy.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=151791