Newt Gingrich

By Al Jazeera Staff in Americas on January 27th, 2012
Four Republican presidential candidates are facing off in their 19th debate [EPA]

Our producer in Florida, Roza Kazan, keeps you up to date with the latest from the debate and ensuing reactions.

11:25pm: Jennifer S Korn, the Executive Director of the Hispanic Leadership Network told Al Jazeera that she too thinks the economy remains very important to Latino voters. “It's the number one issue, whether you are Hispanic or not,” Korn said. 

She said illegal immigration is a “huge problem” for the US and won't just go away. But the way to solve it, she said, is to solve the problems of legal immigration in order to “eliminate” illegal immigration. “Most people would love to come to work here in a legal way, but right now it practically does not exist," Korn said. 

By Alan Fisher in Americas on January 23rd, 2012
Gingrich has proclaimed himself the 'best debater' of the GOP candidates [Reuters]

Newt Gingrich likes to talk. He's a smart guy - a professor of American history and a former speaker of the House of Representatives. It's his love of debates that has thrown him to the front of the field of candidates hoping to secure the Republican presidential nomination.

He gives emphatic answers. He makes promises. He rightly addresses the format of the debates when he suggests that some of the issues raised, such as the economy or US relations with Pakistan, can't be summed up in a one-minute response and a 30-second rebuttal: that the world is slightly more complicated than that.

His message that Washington is broken, President Obama is awful and the "liberal media" is trying to alter America, resonates with Republican voters. Gingrich appears to have an intellectual depth missing from some of the other contenders.

By Alan Fisher in Americas on January 22nd, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may have to change tactics for Florida [Reuters]

It’s been a bad week for Mitt Romney. Seven days ago, he was looking at virtually tying up the Republican Party nomination with victory in South Carolina and moving on to Florida for the coronation.

But then things started to go wrong.

He discovered he didn’t actually win the first contest in Iowa. A recount of the votes handed victory to his rival Rick Santorum. His performances in the latest two candidate debates in this process, where he has been steady if unaccomplished, looked shaky and uncertain. Asked if he would release details of his tax returns, he joked and dodged and avoided, leaving many people to question what he was trying to hide. He said if he received the nomination, he would release them then. That didn’t go down well – so he suggested he’d release them when they were completed, which would be in April. The demands still persist that he release them now.

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