Newt & Callista Gingrich

Newt & Callista Gingrich, At Thursday night’s Republican debate in South Carolina, only one person will likely receive as much attention as the candidates themselves: Callista Gingrich.

Newt Gingrich’s third wife is back in the spotlight because of a new interview with his second wife, Marianne Gingrich, in which Marianne tells ABC that the former House speaker asked her for an “open marriage” in 1999 so that he could continue his long-term affair with Callista, a congressional staffer at the time.

Tonight, wherever the lights and cameras track Callista Gingrich, they’ll also be tracking her hair — a frozen, platinum blond bob that has sparked fascination among women eager to learn how she keeps it so perfect all the time.

But the Callista bob wasn’t always the slick, smooth, helmet-y coif it is now. When she married Newt in 2000, Callista wore her hair longer and curlier, although still very blond.

Over the past 12 years, her haircut has morphed slowly into her signature disciplined bob, and her wardrobe has followed suit with more structure and fewer patterns.

As Callista Gingrich prepares to endure skeptical glances from some in the Republican audience tonight, that discipline might be just what she needs, along with a ready smile and another great hair day.

Newt Gingrich Tax Returns

Newt Gingrich Tax Returns, Pressure on Mitt Romney to release his U.S. income tax returns increased Thursday as Newt Gingrich release his returns ahead of the evening’s debate.

Gingrich’s return shows he and his wife, Callista, owed federal taxes of $994,708 on an adjusted gross income of $3,142,066 for 2010, The Washington Post reported.

The couple’s income included $450,245 in wages; $41,625 in speaking and board of directors’ fees; and $2,525,683 from partnerships and S corporations, the newspaper said.

During the debate Thursday, Romney said he will release his 2011 return but stopped short of saying he would release returns from other years.

“When they’re completed this year in April I’ll release by returns for last year, and probably for other years,” Romney said.

“I don’t know how many years I’ll release, he said.

Gingrich, who promised to keep the tax issue alive during Thursday’s 2-hour debate in Charleston, S.C., said Wednesday he paid almost a third of his earnings to the federal government, unlike the former Massachusetts governor, who said Tuesday he paid about 15 percent in income taxes.