Gingrich on offensive to prove his viability to N.H. voters New Hampshire voters turn out in Meredith, N.H., to meet Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich at a Tea Party Town Hall event. MEREDITH and LEBANON, N.H. - Newt Gingrich is working in New Hampshire to overcome voters' doubts about the viability of his campaign after his tumble from frontrunner status to fourth place finisher in the Iowa caucuses. After having been pummeled by negative ads run by Restore Our Future, the super PAC working in favor of Mitt Romney, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul's campaign, Gingrich finished at just over 13 percent among caucus-goers Tuesday night. He wasn't strong enough and hard enough toward other candidates. You can't be nice in politics; dirty politics works," said Ray Vaillancourt, an undecided Granite State voter considering Gingrich. I think it's too late. He's going to have to convince me tonight so that I feel stronger about his potential. "I think he's got an uphill struggle ahead of him," added Roy Sanvorn, who was with Vaillancourt on Thursday night in Meredith, N.H. Ann Chiampa, a supporter of the former House speaker in attendance at that event, blamed "smear tactics" from Romney allies for Gingrich's troubles. "The attack ads certainly are working," she said, bemoaning the way Restore Our Future has been able to drop millions into the presidential campaign. But Chiampa said she hopes Gingrich fights back ("Just retaliate, only verbally," she explained.) Send in your questions for Sunday's NBC News-Facebook debate on Meet the Press One full-time working nurse who hopes to retire soon and was in attendance, declined to give her name, but said she was undecided before Tuesday's primary, adding that she was disinclined to vote for Gingrich after viewing the ads. She said they were entirely fair to the former speaker. "The baggage, I'm not thrilled about," she said. It's a delicate balance Gingrich must strike in order to keep his campaign viable through the New Hampshire primary. A Suffolk University tracking poll of the race found that 9 percent of likely primary voters on Tuesday would back Gingrich. That puts him in fourth place, and just one point ahead of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. After having vowed to only stay positive, Gingrich pivoted after Iowa to launch fresh attacks against Romney in New Hampshire, the firewall for the campaign of the former Massachusetts governor. Romney leads big here, but Gingrich is hoping his criticism of Romney - labeling him a "Massachusetts moderate," for starters - will add some tarnish to the frontrunner. It seems that Gingrich risks backlash from some voters after his decision to go negative against Romney. The candidate himself and his aides insist that he's not going negative; Gingrich says he's simply drawing contrasts with Romney, based on facts. A New Yorker considers the troops when choosing a presidential candidate. Seeing the way he's been going after Romney the last few days as really made me a little upset. I don't think it helps the cause much," said Frank Marino, an undecided Republican voter who's leaning toward Romney on Tuesday, but said Gingrich was his second choice. I think all it's going to do is help Obama get re-elected. Stephen Murray of Wolfeboro, N.H., said he would prefer to see the candidates fight it out. He's deciding between Romney, Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, and has gone to see each of the candidates. "I like seeing them all fight back and explain where they're from," he said. I think a hard fought primary battle will strengthen our candidate ... I want people to be challenged. For his part, Gingrich expressed optimism in Meredith about his overall prospects in the Granite State. "I think we'll do better in New Hampshire than people expect because when you describe the 'Massachusetts moderate,' and you remind people of his record, they'll go, "Oh yeah! He's not a conservative; it's a joke to call him a conservative,"" Gingrich said. I don't mind contrast. I am saying some fairly strong things tonight that are issue-based. I'm not going to attack him personally, I'm not going to defame him, I'm not going to lie about him. And if that's the price of being president, I don't want it. But if Thursday night's event was an attempt by Gingrich to move votes, the intent of his first event on Thursday morning was less clear. A New Hampshire voter explains why the economy matters the most to him in this election even though the unemployment rate in the state is better than the rest of the country. The former speaker spoke about a pet issue, brain science, in a speech at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock hospital in Lebanon, N.H. The event started with the blare of country-rock music from loudspeakers (as had the previous evening's campaign event), but Gingrich skipped any mention of Romney in the speech - an especially odd thing given the health care backdrop of the event. And for the most part, President Barack Obama escaped criticism, too. Instead, the audience was packed with medical professionals who immediately shuffled out following the speech. They asked more pointed questions than the previous night's audience. One questioner said he identified Gingrich as the progenitor of harsh rhetoric in Washington, and another wanted to know about Gingrich's use of "death panel" language first popularized by former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Another young researcher wanted to know about women's health and contraceptives. Gingrich didn't stick around much longer, either, after the event. He headed to two more traditional events - town halls in Newport and Salem - scheduled later in the day.