Gingrich’s ex-wife grants interview

 NEW YORK – ABC News plans to air an interview with the second wife of Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich on “Nightline” just two days before the GOP’s South Carolina primary.

 Excerpts from the interview with Marianne Gingrich will be released during the day today, ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said, ahead of both a Republican candidate debate tonight in Charleston, S.C., and ABC’s late-night news program.

 ABC News has not indicated what Marianne Gingrich said in the interview. Her ex-husband has said that they don’t have a relationship.

 The interview comes as Gingrich, the former House speaker, is trying to topple GOP front-runner Mitt Romney by casting himself as the more conservative option in the GOP presidential race. It would shine a spotlight on a part of Gingrich’s past that could turn off Republican voters in a state filled with religious and cultural conservatives who may cringe at Gingrich’s two divorces and acknowledged infidelities.

Associated Press