Newt Gingrich seems to have resurrected his campaign with steady debate performances. He’s saved his attacks for the Obama administration and avoided bickering with Romney and Perry.
Gingrich is well known due to his years in front of the nation’s
television cameras. We hope voters have not made up their minds about him. He bore the brunt of Democratic – and their media flunkies – criticism and hatred for staring down Bill Clinton and the leftists Democrats in the 1990s. One has to wonder if the electorate will suddenly embrace his candidacy with a burst of enthusiasm.
Non-candidate Sarah Palin told Greta Van Susteren on Fox News that she thought Gingrich did best of all the candidates.
“He seems to be above a lot of the bickering that goes on,” said Palin.
In some ways its surprising the Gingrich has even survived on the trail long enough to debate one-on-one with Herman Cain. In June his campaign was in tatters after his entire senior staff resigned in protest at what they felt was their candidate’s disinterest in traditional campaigning. Reports noted that he was taking a long vacation cruise with wife Calista at a time when other candidates were working Iowa’s hustings hard.
By August his support as measured in polls had declined by about two-thirds from the beginning of the year, to under 5 percent in RealClearPolitics’ rolling averages of the GOP field.
But he’s done well in debates, as opposed to Iowa State Fair handshaking. He’s generally played the role of Greek chorus, attacking moderators for trying to create divisions between candidates and focusing his own remarks on what he sees as the incumbent’s shortfalls
He’s been rewarded with a rebound in the polls. Right now, Herman Cain is serving as the main challenger to steady near-frontrunner Mitt Romney. Some, including Palin, have called Cain the flavor of the month, a designation he rejects. And it is true that there are reasons to believe that he’ll persist in his top tier position.
But the campaign still has a long way to go, and, improbably as it might have seemed in the summer, Newt Gingrich might emerge as the next challenger. He’s the only other challenger in the race whose polls have been trending upwards of late.
Several factors weigh against this, however. One is that Gingrich generates only moderate enthusiasm – his Gallup Poll Positive Intensity Score, measured by subtracting those who strongly dislike a candidate from those who strongly like them, is a “meh” 13. Romney’s is 15. Herman Cain’s is 34.
Newt is articulate, strong and will not bow to the will of mainstream media or kneel in appeasement to the Democratic Party just to “get along” with Harry Reid, Dick Durbin and Nancy Pelosi. He is one of the few candidates with guts. And the Republican Party could do worse. Oh, we have, John McCain.
