Super PAC video touts Gingrich as Reagan conservative

Updated 10:53 a.m. Eastern Time

In the face of attack ads casting Newt Gingrich as less than a true conservative - spots that may be eroding his support - a super PAC supporting Gingrich has released a new video deeming the former House Speaker a "proven conservative leader."

The spot, from the newly-formed Winning Our Future, is not officially affiliated with the Gingrich campaign, and it cannot coordinate with the campaign. But like many super PACs, it has strong ties to the candidate. Winning Our Future is led by Becky Burkett, a onetime official with a now-defunct group American Solutions for Winning the Future that Gingrich founded after leaving Congress. Super PACs can accept unlimited contributions to advertize and advocate on behalf of a candidate, without revealing donors; Winning Our Future is one of two super PACs (along with "Solutions 2012") backing Gingrich this cycle.

The spot opens with a deep-voiced narrator saying "Proven, Conservative, Leadership," as those words appear onscreen. It goes on to show the word "conservative" onscreen as the narrator talks about Gingrich's "commitment to conservative values" and his being "there for conservative values," with reference to a claim he "reduced welfare by 60 percent." The spot also links Gingrich to former President Ronald Reagan and says Gingrich believes in "the greatness of America" and sees America's best days ahead.

A representative with Winning Our Future said the group is "still in the early stages of development" and is trying to figure out how to deploy the video. A spokesperson said "we will be using the video in an ad but the buy has not yet been determined." 

The spot follows efforts by Gingrich's rivals to diminish his standing in the polls, particularly in the first-in-the-nation voting state of Iowa, which holds its caucuses on January 3. Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Ron Paul have all attacked Gingrich in their rhetoric and their advertizing, with Paul running ads accusing the former House speaker of "serial hypocrisy" and being a corrupt Washington insider and Romney casting Gingrich as an "unreliable" conservative.

Gingrich's campaign is lagging behind all three of those rivals in terms of both fundraising and organization - largely because he didn't surge in polls until late in the race - and his campaign and the super PACs backing him are now trying desperately to close that gap before the caucuses.

Meanwhile, there are signs that Gingrich's momentum in Iowa may be stalling and possibly reversing. A new survey from Democratic polling company Public Policy Polling shows Gingrich with 14 percent support in Iowa, down from 22 percent in a PPP poll one week ago. (It should be noted that unlike CBS News, PPP conducts its surveys through automated telephone interviews.) The survey showed Paul leading in Iowa with 23 percent support. Polls last week also suggested Gingrich was losing steam, and the Gallup tracking poll suggests Gingrich's lead over Romney nationally has narrowed from double digits to four points.