Romney Dubs Gingrich an 'Influence Peddler' and Freddie Mac 'Chief Lobbyist' in Fiery Exchange

About an hour into the NBC GOP presidential debate Monday evening, rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich exchanged powerful blows, with the former House Speaker adamantly denying he was ever a lobbyist. Romney was the aggressor from the opening moments of the night, saying Gingrich had "resigned in disgrace" from Congress after four years as speaker and then had spent the next 15 years "working as an influence peddler" in Washington.

In particular, Romney referred to the contract Gingrich's consulting firm had with Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage giant that he said "did a lot of bad for a lot of people and you were working there."

Romney also said Gingrich had lobbied lawmakers to approve legislation creating a new prescription drug benefit under Medicare.

“There’s a point in this process where it gets unnecessarily personal and nasty, and that’s sad,” Gingrich said.

“I think it’s pretty clear to say that I have never, ever gone and done any lobbying.”

Romney called Gingrich’s title at Freddie Mac “chief lobbyist,” arguing that the company doesn't pay the millions Gingrich received “for you to be a historian.”

“As a business man, you know that the gross revenue of Bain was not your personal income,” Gingrich snapped back.

Turning the tables back on Romney, Gingrich asked, “What was the gross revenue of Bain at the time you were there?”

“Very substantial, but I don’t see how that’s relevant,” Romney replied before switching topics to Medicare Part D.

“Let me be very clear, because I understand your technique, you used on McCain, you used on Huckabee, you use it consistently,” Gingrich said. “I have always publicly favored and openly advocated… Medicare Part D, it saves lives.”

Watch the heated exchange below:

And here, from the left-leaning Talking Points Memo, is a summary of the debate in 100 seconds: