The publisher of a conservative New Hampshire newspaper says Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has the best chance against President Barack Obama in 2012 because former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney "sort of represents the 1 percent."
"We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear," The New Hampshire Union Leader declared in a front-page editorial Sunday.
Appearing on Fox News Monday, publisher Joe McQuaid explained that statement was a dig at Romney.
"We don't think he's got it," McQuaid remarked. "We think he's the managerial type, but he's sort of a blank slate and he's going to go with the winds too much."
"I think -- and this is crazy, but so are we -- that Gingrich is going to have a a better time in the general election than Mitt Romney. I think it's going to be Obama's 99 [percent] versus the 1 percent, and Romney sort of represent the 1 percent."
McQuaid has a point that with a net worth of $250 million, Romney embodies the 1 percent of wealthiest Americans.
Gingrich, however, also has a net worth of at least $6.7 million, putting him well within the top 1 percent.
Romney reportedly earned $9.3 million in 2010, while Gingrich made a more modest $2.6 million that same year.
Over the summer, Gingrich explained an interest-free $1.5 million line of credit at Tiffany's by saying it was "a normal way of doing business."
"As a private citizen who has done well, I think I'm allowed to pick and choose what I prefer doing," he told CBS host Bob Schieffer.
