Meanwhile, prominent Romney supporters lashed out at Gingrich in harsher terms, calling him unstable and untrustworthy, and a brutal new ad attacking Gingrich as a flipflopper who would lose in the general election to Obama has been released by a political action committee that backs Romney through a site called newtfacts.com.

Michele Bachmann also attacked Gingrich, after he refused to call himself a lobbyist, saying, "You don't need to be within the technical definition of a lobbyist to still be influence peddling."

Fellow Republican candidate Michele Bachmann recently attacked Gingrich as "memory challenged" over his denial of his previous support for amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Democratic leaders vigorously attacked Gingrich for the budget standoff, and his public image suffered heavily.