US candidate Gingrich admits $1.5 million payments

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) — U.S. presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who has been surging in the latest polls, found himself on the defensive Wednesday over huge payments he received over the past decade from the federally backed housing agency unpopular among his fellow Republicans.

Gingrich is the latest candidate to challenge Mitt Romney, the favorite of the Republican establishment, only to face revelations from his past.

Gingrich said he doesn't remember exactly how much he was paid by the agency, Freddie Mac, a federally backed mortgage lender that has become a target of anti-government sentiment because of the U.S. housing crisis.

But a former Freddie Mac official …