There’s plenty of buzz down here in Charleston in advance of tonight’s presidential debate. When the news hit that Texas Gov. Rick Perry was dropping out an endorsing Newt, the Newt staffers and supporters on radio row got quite excited.
Talked with former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, a Gingrich supporter, first. He believes Gingrich has the foreign policy knowledge the country needs at this time as well as the ability to rationalize defense spending to address the current threats. He’s particularly keen on increasing the size of the Navy back to its Reagan-era levels.
A later interview with former Rep. Bob Livingston echoed the sentiment that Gingrich has the brain power, experience and ability to get things done. I asked Livingston about Newt’s exit from the Speakership in 1999 — when it was his own caucus that ran him out of town. He reminded me that he was one of the leaders of that effort, but that Gingrich has remained a friend and supporter. Livingston is returning the favor.
When I asked how Gingrich might be able to capitalize on a good showing in South Carolina in a later primary state like Virginia — where he won’t be on the ballot — both McFarlane and Livingston shook their heads. They hoped that it wouldn’t matter, that the national cause was bigger and that Virginians would rally with their checkbooks to the Gingrich banner.
I asked former Rep. Tom Tancredo about Newt and his take was utterly different. He recounted how, as a newly-elected member of Congress, he received a call from Newt in 1998 asking Tancredo to support him for Speaker. Tancredo told him no. Gingrich was put out, saying that it was harder to get things done in Congress than outsiders could imagine and that he wasn’t responsible for the tough times the GOP was then enduring. Newt was gone a few weeks later.
But Tancredo’s bigger problem with Gingrich, and why he won’t support him, is over illegal immigration. He thinks Gingrich’s proposals are nonsensical and would not improve the situation at all.
We shall see. Tonight brings the debate at the TD Arena, and the even more unsightly mosh pit that is otherwise known as the CNN “spin room,” where campaign surrogates, assorted handlers and Wolf Blitzer’s hair will all be fighting for attention.
