Contest for Hispanic vote heats up GOP primary

The battle for Hispanic voters in the Republican primary is turning ugly, and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is trying to tamp down some of the rancor.

Rubio stepped in when Newt Gingrich went so far as to compare Republican rival Mitt Romney with — prepare yourselves! — Charlie Crist. 

Rubio told Florida Republicans that Romney “was one of the first national Republican leaders to endorse me.” We decided to check that statement out, as it didn’t match with our memory of the campaign. We rated it Half True; read the full report.

Romney, meanwhile, hit Gingrich with a Spanish-language radio ad that said Ronald Reagan “would have never offended Hispanics as Gingrich did when he said Spanish is the language of the ghetto.” We rated that Mostly True; read the history on Gingrich’s remarks.