Newt: 'Romney Would Buy the Election if He Could

Even though he finished a distant forth in the latest Des Moines Register poll released Saturday, the same poll he topped only one month ago, Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich still believes the race in Iowa is far from over despite the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses set to kick-off in only two days.

While fileding questions from reporters after Sunday mass, the former Speaker of the House took a jab at poll leader Mitt Romney. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on Gingrich's sharp words about the Romney campaign:

“'You figure out between 2007 and 2008 and 2011 and 2012 how many dollars per vote Romney has spent and it will rival [New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg,' Gingrich told reporters after attending a service at Saint Ambrose Cathedral. Bloomberg, Gingrich added, 'did buy an election. Romney would buy the election if he could.'"

While Romney has had a good deal more money to spend than Gingrich, POLITICO's Alexander Burns notes that Romney has actually not spent as much this cycle when compared to his 2008 campaign, and there is no indication that he self-funded in the first three quarters of the year.

In the final poll before the Iowa caucuses released Saturday night by the Register, Romney came in first with 24 percent support with Gingrich finishing fourth with 12 percent. The former Speaker of House seemed unfazed by the poll which accurately predicted the state's 2008 caucus winners.

“The most accurate part of the poll is that 41 percent could change their opinion, and I think that is an understatement,” Gingrich said Sunday. “This is wide open. I think the next 2 ½ days are going to be fascinating.”