GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich: Poor children have no 'habits of working... unless it's illegal'

Told ABC on Thursday 'I'm going to be the nominee'

Republican presidential frontrunner and self-proclaimed nominee Newt Gingrich believes poor kids have no work ethic -- unless it comes to doing something illegal.



The former House Speaker is sticking with his argument that child labor laws should be changed and poor children should be put to work mopping the hallways of their schools or greeting patrons at the library.



'Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and nobody around them who works,' Mr Gingrich told fundraisers Thursday night at a dinner outside Des Moines, Iowa.

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Sticking with it: Newt Gingrich, the current Republican presidential frontrunner, reiterated his position that poor children should be put to work

'So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of "I do this and you give me cash"... unless it's illegal.'

Mr Gingrich has drawn scorn from the left for his remarks about child labor, but the newest contender for the Republican presidential nomination is sticking to his guns.



'I believe the kids could mop the floor and clean up the bathroom and get paid for it, and it would be OK,' he told the crowd.



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Mr Gingrich has said he thinks the poorest Americans have no in-grained work ethic and the surest way to combat poverty is the teach them they can earn money for their labor.



Clean up: Mr Gingrich argues that putting the poorest children to work cleaning schools can teach them responsibility and a work ethic

Last month, Mr Gingrich drew fire for saying he believes child labor laws are 'truly stupid' and that kids as young a 9 should be given paying jobs to teach them the benefits of hard work.



Thursday, he mocked his critics, saying his proposals would help break the cycle of abject poverty in America's cities: 'And then who would rich liberals worry about?'

'I’m going to be the nominee,' the former Speaker told ABC News in an interview on Thursday.

'It’s very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I’m going to be the nominee.'



The thrice-married Gingrich also said there were no more skeletons in his closet that he was aware of.

Gingrich is currently polling six percentage points ahead of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and has about 26.6 percent support in the wildly fluctuating Republican presidential field, according to RealClearPolitics.com.



A new poll from Rasmussen Reports also gives him the edge against President Barack Obama with 45 percent support versus President Obama's 43 percent.

He is the only GOP candidate, other than Gov Romney, to beat the president in pre-election polls.

