Newt Gingrich Says Illinois Primary ‘Largely Will Be Romney, Santorum’ - East Idaho News
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Newt Gingrich Says Illinois Primary ‘Largely Will Be Romney, Santorum’

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GETTY P 051811 NewtGingrich?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1331852766134Jessica McGowan/Getty Images(ELGIN, Ill.) — After two days of campaigning in Illinois, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich told reporters that he believes the race in Illinois “largely will be Romney and Santorum.”

A poll last week from the Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV showed Gingrich at 12-percent support in the state, while Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum were neck and neck, with Romney at 35 percent and Santorum at 31 percent.

Illinois congressman and former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who endorsed Romney for president, told reporters on a fly-around of the state campaigning for Romney Thursday that while he still considered Gingrich a friend, he did not support his candidacy for president.

“You’ll find that a lot of people who worked with Newt Gingrich over those years aren’t supporting Newt Gingrich. This guy is all over the place. You can’t trust him. There’s always a doubt out there about where this guy’s going to go,” Hastert said.

When asked if Gingrich would have wanted Hastert’s support in the state, Gingrich told reporters, “That would have been fine.”

“Governor Romney has been busy gathering up the establishment and that is his style of campaign, mine is out here with all these people,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich made six stops in Illinois, including a talk with students at Barrington High School and a speech centered on big ideas and hard work.

“I’m staying in the race to see if I can’t in the second half of the race — Louisiana is sort of halftime. I want to see if we can’t reset this whole race around the idea of really big ideas and really big solutions and insist that the American people have a chance to vote for a dramatically better future,” Gingrich said.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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