Gingrich neck-and-neck with Obama in two key swing states

Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich is virtually tied with President Obama in two key swing states, a new Quinnipiac poll shows, and he trounces his GOP rival Mitt Romney in head-to-head match ups.

Romney performs slightly better against Mr. Obama in three key states -- Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida -- but Gingrich is not far behind, weakening the argument Romney has a better chance of beating the president in 2012.

In Florida, the poll shows, Mr. Obama wins in a head-to-head match-up against Gingrich, 46 percent to 44 percent -- within the poll's 2.8 percent margin of error. Romney leads against Mr. Obama in Florida, 45 percent to 42 percent.

In Ohio, Romney again beats Mr. Obama by a slim margin, at 43 percent to 42 percent. Gingrich also beats the president in the Buckeye State 43 percent to 42 percent.

In Pennsylvania, Romney has a more distinct advantage over Gingrich in a match-up against the president. Mr. Obama edges out Romney 46 percent to 43 percent, but he soundly beats Gingrich 48 percent to 40 percent.

These three swing states are critical: No presidential candidate has won since 1960 without carrying at least two of them.

While Gingrich has established himself as a clear frontrunner in recent days, some Democrats have suggested he'd be a much easier candidate for Mr. Obama to run against. "I did not think I had lived a good enough life to be rewarded by having Newt Gingrich be the Republican nominee," liberal Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., recently smirked.

Mr. Obama's campaign advisers tell CBS News they believe there's a "realistic chance" Gingrich could be the nominee, but they say running a campaign against him would be relatively easy -- "that playbook has been written for years," said a senior strategist, referring to what he believes is plenty of Gingrich opposition research that is readily available with a simple Google search.

For now, the Obama team is still mainly focused on hammering Romney. Mr. Obama's re-election campaign sent out an email this week with the subject line "Mitt Romney's strategy," blasting the Republican for a misleading ad that took a quote the president gave out of context. "Dishonesty and manipulation are core to Mitt Romney's strategy -- and we can expect to see a lot more of it," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina wrote in the email.

A new web video from the Democratic National Committee focuses on slamming Romney, but it also takes a hit at Gingrich.

While both Gingrich and Romney prove to be strong contenders against Mr. Obama in Florida, Ohio and (to a lesser extent) Pennsylvania, the Quinnipiac poll shows that GOP voters overwhelmingly prefer Gingrich over Romney. In head-to-head match ups, Republican voters in those three states choose Gingrich over Romney by margins between 18 and 27 points.