Newt Gingrich peaking at the right time
By Brian Kirwin | Saturday, November 12th, 2011 | PoliticsA new poll places Newt Gingrich at second place nationally and has a few people wondering if this is the surge Newt’s been waiting for.
After a summertime purge/walkout of his consultant team, Newt eliminated his big ad and staff budget and focused on his forte: Debates and Big Ideas.
Seems to be paying off. After peaks of Bachmann, Perry and Cain, Gingrich is getting his turn in the spotlight.
In Iowa, Cain and Romney still lead the pack with Newt in third. But Cain and Romney have been falling lately in Iowa and voters have left both for Newt. Newt surged to second place in South Carolina, with Romney in third.
Gingrich has some benefits. He takes on the media in a way that gets Republican primary voters cheering. He has more ideas about any problem facing America than the rest of the field combined. Newt doesn’t have to memorize answers like Rick Perry does. He’s been debating these topics for close to 40 years.
And in debate after debate, he’s debating right past his fellow Republican candidates and constantly contrasting with Obama.
Smart. That’s probably why defectors from Romney, Cain and others don’t feel bad about shifting to Newt. Newt never attacks other Republicans and actually defends them with the press does.
Gingrich and Cain held a one-on-one debate last week in which he shone. Looked like a quarterfinal match heading into the semis against Romney.
Funny that it’s Romney. Newt seems to be tracking like Richard Nixon.
After years in the spotlight in office, Nixon lost two races and left government. As government became a disaster area after he left, he returned and had to face a primary opponent in a campaign for President……named Romney.
Newt led the conservative revolution in 1994 and left with the budget balanced and the nation’s economy booming. He’s returning with credibility in saying “I can fix this because I’ve done it before.” No one in this campaign, not even Obama, can say that.
Like Nixon, Newt is always the smartest candidate in the room. He’s seen it all, and it’s doubtful anything would surprise him. He’s got mountains of experience dealing with any issue, and when he challenges Obama to a series of 3-hour debates, no one doubts he will excel.
Romney is still leading most polls, but has a ceiling to his support that he just can’t break. A woman told me Romney is like that guy at the end of the bar who bought you drinks all night, but didn’t impress you, but at 2 AM he’s still there smiling at you. Interesting observation.
Herman Cain is living on energy. I haven’t met a single person who likes his 9-9-9 plan, and I think a proposal to have a national sales tax and an income tax is DOA. But he’s a passionate speaker who is easy to rally around. It’s also clear that this level of scrutiny was something he was ill-prepared for and he may be in over his head.
I was going to mention three things I like about Rick Perry, but I can’t remember them.
Michelle Bachmann and Ron Paul could be dates to the party held on Prom Night for all the people who didn’t go to the prom. Rick Santorum keeps looking for his voice, but it’s just not there. He’s got a great record and a great blue-color riff, but it’s not selling on a national level.
People like experience. People like clarity. After years of having our candidates being written off by the media as dumb, Republicans may be warming up to nominating the smartest guy in the room.
Tags:
Contribute for Conservatism!
Share this post
About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
We're 75% there! Thank you to everyone who has so far contributed! Just $2000 to go!
Comments
21 Responses to "Newt Gingrich peaking at the right time"
Well said, Brian. Newt sometimes seems like the grouchy grandpa in the corner rocking chair, but if the children would go gather ’round and listen, they’d hear the good stuff.
Part of me hates to agree with you because I really didn’t want it to be Newt. But you’re right that he’s the smartest guy in the room. He’s looking at lot better these days.
Was with a tea party group watching the Michigan debates and Cain-Newt or Newt-Cain got the nod in a big way.. Guess someone else will have to be the press secretary. And a big plus.. Neither of them needs a teleprompter.
This highlights the value of holding multiple debates of various formats, even when moderated by biased media talking heads.
Brian- Excellent and insightful column. However, what do you think will happen to Newt’s number’s when the “news” media give him the Cain treatment and begin their colonoscopy on Newt?
Brian,
Thanks for the walk down memory lane. Are you expecting Mitt Romney to come out and announce that he was “brainwashed” on health care and abortion?
(I’ll bet that the youngsters reading here have no idea what I’m talking about.)
I think the media is happy with him surging in the polls because they know whenever they want they can pull out his extra-martial affairs and how he left his 2nd wife who was in the hospital on Mother’s Day. Not something he can deny saying “Nein, Nein, Nein”
I’m sticking with Obama. He still seems to be better then any of the candidates the Republican Party is willing to offer. Looking at the field of Republican hopefuls is like looking at someone throwing excrement at the fan and wondering which one sticks and which one blows back at you. They are all blowing back and they all stink.
LD, Obama? Speaking of throwing shit in the fan.. The National Inquirer was the only rag having enough chutzpah to report on former dem potus candidate John Edwards’ affair with Rielle Hunter and Tiger Woods affair with models long before he wrecked the Escalade. They also exposed the Vera Baker story that went mostly unreported. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5LU4R9mRWw&feature=player_embedded#!
Turbo,
I said Obama, not Edwards.
Blaming Obama for Edwards would be like blaming Romney for Newt or Cain on human relationships. Mitt has his own problems without adding that to them. Mitt Romney is the “Tell me what I have to say to get elected and I will say it” candidate.
Oops, wrong link, here is the right one http://obamaverabaker.com/
The web was littered with this a year ago but the sites have for the most part been scrubbed.
Turbo,
Was she an unwilling participant?
I don’t know, perhaps Obama was not perfect, but he did not attempt to force a woman to have sex with him in order to get a job like Cain did, huh?
When I look back on human relationships, my history is not perfect either. However as imperfect as my personal history was, it was better then Cain’s or Newt’s. Newt is especially worthy of condemnation.
Divorcing your wife while she lies on her deathbed with cancer is awful. All Newt had to do was wait just a little while and wait for her to die. He couldn’t wait. Maybe God will forgive him, but I won’t.
LD said “I don’t know, perhaps Obama was not perfect, but he did not attempt to force a woman to have sex with him in order to get a job like Cain did, huh?” So do tell the details since you seem to be in the know.. Cain did what the alleged accusers said? The sources for that story have as much relevance as this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVEzb0edPE
As for the deathbed story, Newt confessed that he was cheating on his wife at around the same time the House was impeaching Willie Clinton over his White House fling with Monica. Gingrich’s first marriage ended after he discussed the details of the divorce with his wife while she was RECOVERING from cancer surgery.. which unless there are false reports, she survived.
Turbo,
I guess the people who possessed the facts about Cain decided before they decided to pay the money. I only know what is reported in the media, and the media is reporting some pretty bad things about Cain. But maybe you are willing to only believe rumors when they are reported about Democrats, because they must be true, and dismiss them when they are about Republicans, because they can’t be true. I see some evidence of that from you.
What I like is having Brian back writing stuff that makes me think and wonder. I was a huge Newt fan for so long… I just wish he wasn’t so angry. If it was a choice between Newt and President Obama not only does Newt have me vote I’m going to do what ever I can to help.
Side note… The more I think about it, the more I want people to consider IRV (Instant Runoff Voting). I think it would have increased voter turnout this time which would have helped the GOP and maybe Mr. Free would have made the cut. I think it’s nuts that our Mayor and many members of City Council didn’t get more then 50% of the vote. Don’t know what IRV is? Check it out:
http://www.fairvote.org/instant-runoff-voting
LD, by your standard I see evidence that Obama was accused of sexual harrassment.. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2805071/posts
Since this could not be corroborated few right leaning media covered it.. Who are the witnesses? See the point?
David, splain your rational for the mayor getting more than half the vote.. I presume this is in reference to democrat Prescott Sherrod.
Are there any estimates as to the size of the gender gap that Newt would experience? And since when have Americans voted for the smartest guy in the room because he was the smartest guy in the room? Wouldn’t it be safer for a Republican President to hire Newt (rather than be Newt) so that he could fire him when the time came? At least I stopped at 3 questions.
Turbo,
I see you are pretty free with those you think abide by journalistic standards by linking to Free Republic. Doesn’t surprise me too much as I have you judged as being comfortable with being accused of being a Freeper, right?
Free Republic is a free wheeling conservative independent grassroots. If ya like whats coming from Harvard Law School or Huffpo then log on to their site..
Could not resist this one David..
http://izismile.com/img/img2/20091002/politicians_make_up_14.jpg
http://www.businessinsider.com/hey-republicans-theres-one-real-conservative-left-to-vote-for-and-its-jon-huntsman-2011-10?op=1
This is all most amusing. I wrote this this same thing about six weeks ago. Look it up on this site under Presidential Debate (maybe the 4th or 5th article of that title.) I just love it when I am justified, and get no credit. I wrote then Newt was going to pull out of the pack and peel off voters from some of the clowns. Now its all big news like I didn’t write this same story some weeks ago. There is a member of this list who will appreciate my precience.
Craig, unfortunately for you, you aren’t me.
Leave your response