Mitt Romney vs. Newt Gingrich: making 'moderate' a dirty word

Quick: Who's more conservative, Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich?

The answer seems obvious, right? After all, Mr. Gingrich – author of the Contract With America and architect of a new conservative movement when he was in the House – has been embraced largely by GOP voters worried that Mr. Romney isn't far removed from being a Democrat.

Not if Romney has his way. The former Massachusetts governor is stepping up his efforts to slap Gingrich with the "moderate" label, highlighting his willingness to compromise on certain issues in the past and trying to spread doubt among GOP conservatives as to whether Gingrich is really the man they want.

His latest effort is an ad titled "Newt and Nancy" that showcases Gingrich's support for two of conservatives' least favorite things: Nancy Pelosi and climate change warnings.

"Pelosi and Gingrich supported Al Gore's liberal global warming agenda," the ad says, showing three-year-old footage of an ad Gingrich and Pelosi shot together in favor of the initiative. The two are sitting on a couch and smiling together, and Gingrich declares, "We do agree, our country must take action to address climate change."

"With friends like Newt," the ad concludes, "who needs the left?"

Romney also took this tack in an interview with the Washington Post published Tuesday, in which he hammered Gingrich for the climate-change ad as well as Gingrich's criticism of Paul Ryan's Medicare reform proposal – which Gingrich called "right-wing social engineering" at the time.

“He has been an extraordinarily unreliable leader in the conservative world – not 16 or 17 years ago but in the last two to three years,” Romney told the Post. “And even during the campaign, the number of times he has moved from one spot to another has been remarkable. I think he’s shown a level of unreliability as a conservative leader today.”

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