House Speaker Newt Gingrich endorsed State Sen. Larry McKibben Friday morning in his campaign for Iowa’s Third District House seat, saying incumbent Leonard Boswell has ignored Iowa farmers.

McKibben, R-Marshalltown, is trying to unseat Boswell in a race that has been pinpointed as a key battle in the GOP’s effort to widen its House majority in 1998.

Gingrich made his comments at the Ames Starlite Village Best Western Motel, Restaurant and Lounge, 2601 E. 13th St. He appeared at a Republican Party breakfast attended by more than 500 people, including U.S. Rep. Greg Ganske and former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray.

Gingrich accused Boswell, a Democrat from Davis City, of helping defeat fast-track trade legislation, which stalled in the House last fall after Democrats failed to support it.

The measure would make it easier for presidents to negotiate new trade agreements overseas by allowing them to send trade bills to Congress for simple yes-no votes, without the possibility of amendments being added.

Advocates say this would boost prices of U.S. exports. Without fast-track, Gingrich said, “Every farmer in Iowa has suffered with lower prices.”

McKibben said those farmers are the “backbone” of the Third District, which includes Story County and stretches across the southern border of Iowa between Page and Lee counties.

“Having the support of Newt Gingrich in my campaign against Leonard Boswell is proof positive that my agenda for working Iowa taxpayers and a drug-free Iowa is hitting home,” said McKibben, who has served one term in the Legislature.

Gingrich also gave his full support to Thursday’s Tomahawk missile strikes on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan.

“If you set out to kill Americans, the United States will retaliate,” he said. “There is no sanctuary for those who kill Americans.”

However, he did not mention presidential peccadilloes or former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, keeping his distance from those who say President Clinton ordered the attacks to distract the public from the ongoing grand jury investigation.

Gingrich said the high-tech military operation, which used long-distance missiles launched from ships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, is evidence that the United States needs to take an active role in international affairs.

“The United States is the only country leading the world,” he said. “If we withdraw … we’ll have chaos.”

During his travels to Israel, Bosnia and Ireland, Gingrich said, people have told him how much they need U.S. forces to help keep the peace.

“We can try to retreat from the world, or we can shoulder the burden,” he said.

With this responsibility, Defense Department budget cuts must not hurt worldwide military readiness, Gingrich said. He described a 40 percent cut in mid-level Pentagon management as the solution to cost restraints.

“I’m a hawk, but I’m a cheap hawk,” he said.