MACON, Ga. (AP) - Republican Newt Gingrich is casting the 2012 presidential election as the most consequential since the 1860 race that elected Abraham Lincoln to the White House and was followed by the Civil War.
The former House speaker told the Georgia Republican Party's convention on Friday night that the nation is at a crossroads. He said President Barack Obama's re-election would lead to four more years of "radical left-wing values" that would drive the nation to ruin.
Gingrich also blasted Obama as "the most successful food stamp president in modern American history."
The author, former college professor and ex-Georgia congressman formally announced this week that he was seeking the GOP presidential nomination.
The 67-year-old Gingrich also outlined a jobs plan that would eliminate the estate and capital gains taxes and lower the corporate tax rate.