Gingrich Quiet On Woman’s Tryst Claim

House Speaker Newt Gingrich had nothing to say Wednesday about a woman’s claim they had an affair when he was married 20 years ago, but he did have something to say about his wife.

Vanity Fair magazine says Gingrich had a series of affairs during his first marriage and at least one may have cost him election to Congress in 1974. It also quotes his current wife, Marianne, as saying she will publicly “undermine everything” if he runs for president.

Gingrich said Wednesday his wife was “just making the point hypothetically” that he would not run unless they agreed that he should.

The article in the magazine’s September issue quotes Anne Manning as saying she was a Gingrich campaign volunteer when they became romantically involved in 1976.

At the time, Gingrich was married to his first wife, and Manning also was married.

In the spring of 1977, Manning said, he took her to dinner and then met her back at her hotel room where they had oral sex.

“He prefers that modus operandi because then he can say, ‘I never slept with her,”’ Manning told writer Gail Sheehy.

Gingrich has said he will decide by Dec. 15 whether to try for the Republican presidential nomination.