Gingrich launches 30-minute ad in Super Tuesday states

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who has recently shifted his focus from the economy to gas prices and energy policy, is set to air a 30-minute speech on those issues in several states that vote on Super Tuesday on March 6. (watch at left)

As prices at the pump continue to inch upward, the former House speaker has seized on the issue and blamed President Obama's energy policies as part of the problem. He routinely calls for a new "American energy program" that will allow energy development on federal property and in federally controlled waters.

"I think our goal should be simple," Gingrich said Tuesday in a speech to Oklahoma state legislators. "We want to be so independent in energy production that no future president ever again bows to a Saudi king." The line is a reference to Obama's deep bend at the waste when greeting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2009, which the White House has insisted was not a bow. But the reference usually draws enthusiastic applause from Gingrich's crowds on the campaign trail.

The focus on rising gas prices has the Obama administration on the defensive, with White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday dismissing the idea that the president is to blame for the increases.

"The rise in gas prices is clearly the effect of a variety of factors on the global price of oil around the world," he told reporters at a press conference. "They include unrest in certain regions of the world. They include growth in places like China and India."

In the video, which was filmed last week in California while Gingrich was on a fundraising swing through the state, the candidate speaks directly to the camera for 28 minutes with a simple blue curtain behind him. The campaign points out that he is speaking "without a teleprompter or text," a dig at Obama's use of teleprompters in his speeches.

In his talk, Gingrich calls for an expansion in American oil and natural gas supplies through increased production and the utilization of new technologies in shale exploration and hydro-fracking, the process of extracting oil from rock with pressurized water. And he promises to expand the areas where the U.S. drills for oil.

"What we should do and what I will do as your president is I will authorized the development of offshore as long as it is far enough out that it is not visible, and it is not a threat to tourism or the fisheries," he says. "And I will authorize the development of federal lands that are appropriate."

The campaign has not yet announced the air times or specific locations for airing the ad, but says it will play in key Super Tuesday markets. Ten states hold primaries and caucuses on March 6, including Gingrich's native Georgia.

Full CBS News coverage: Newt Gingrich

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Newt Gingrich on the campaign trail

[venusvegasvada]

I guess Adelson's check cleared?

Just when it started to get safe to watch TV again without having to listen to this freak.

Thanks Sheldon, now we have to suffer with Newt's BS for another month.

[BruceMWilliams]

We will never be able to affect the price of refined product because it's a global commodity. Also latest data shows marcellus shale gas wells losing productivity much quicker than estimated. That means constant, expanding drilling operations just to keep up with demand. Costs will rise as the industry evolves and new, safer extraction technology is developed. Also NG producers are making huge port investments to export LNG. They can get much more overseas, so why sell it cheap to US?. Same as oil, it will soon be a global commodity, and price will rise rapidly.

[twodm]

30 minutes with Newt. OMG. I'd rather have a Colonoscopy without anesthesia.

[mat20052]

twodm - Nice to see you have an open mind and are willing to consider any candidate's proposals objectively.

[amerilatino]

I suppose Newt believes that we can solve the nation's energy problems with all the hot air that he generates...

[PzK2]

What does it mean, Newt asks, if we become an exporter of LNG to China? It means we pollute our water and environment to help our chief competitor manufacture more toxic products in slave shops for our children to buy. It means that in the US, where there is a massive glut of NatGas, that prices will 'stabilize' as the industry likes to call it--which means we, consumers, pay more...as what was a regional commodity becomes a global commodity and we suddenly have to compete with China and India... we pay more, industry profits more, and China out compete us more....its a win/win/win for everyone but the American consumer.