TAMPA, Fla. -- An aggressive Mitt Romney on Monday made clear he will seek to make rival Newt Gingrich's record the central issue in the days leading up to Florida's primary, launching a multi-pronged attack on several past controversies and calling the former House's speaker "highly erratic."

"He's gone from pillar to post almost like a pinball machine, from item to item in a way which is highly erratic. It does not suggest a stable, thoughtful course which is normally associated with leadership."

"I think it's an appropriate that people should know if there's going to be an October surprise," Romney said. "And in the case of the speaker, he's got some records which could represent an October surprise ... So let's, let's see the records from the ethics investigation, let's see what they show, let's see who his clients were." ...

Romney's allies in the Republican establishment signaled that they would join the former Massachusetts governor in attacking Gingrich on trustworthiness and transparency. "He's called upon Gov. Romney to be transparent," said former GOP hopeful and Romney supporter Tim Pawlenty in a conference call with reporters. "Well, Speaker Gingrich needs to be transparent."

“One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich,” she said. “I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.”

She declined to say more, adding, “When the time’s right.”