Florida Primary Election: In The Bunker With Newt Gingrich

MIAMI -- From before the GOP race began in earnest last summer until as recently as this week, Newt Gingrich's close personal and political friends have been urging him to see his candidacy as a crusade that he should take all the way to the GOP convention in Tampa this summer.

And after some initial reluctance, they have found a willing listener. Sources told The Huffington Post that the former speaker had decided in the fall that he would quit the campaign if he did not win South Carolina. But he did. Now, even as he faces defeat in Florida, he is saying publicly and privately that he is in it for the long haul -- if for no other reason than to give credibility to his effort to solicit cash for the Southern-based (and Newt-friendly) Super Tuesday primaries on March 6.

"I told Newt he has to commit publicly to taking it to Tampa," said Christopher Ruddy, CEO and editor of Newsmax, the influential, Florida-based conservative magazine and website. "And he's agreed. This is a fight for the conservative soul of the Republican Party. Besides, who would give him money if they weren't sure he wanted to fight this to the end?"

Gingrich has heard -- and accepted -- the same advice from his longtime friend and biographer Craig Shirley, who is said to think that the former speaker can make a stand for conservative principles similar to that taken in 1976 by Ronald Reagan against then-President Gerald R. Ford. Shirley talked this over with Newt last summer, sources said.

"Newt sees himself as another Reagan," said Roger Stone, a Miami-based political consultant with deep ties to a generation of GOP figures. "Some see that as a fantasy, but not Newt."

The historical parallel is inexact at best. Reagan was a Washington outsider; Newt a creature of Capitol Hill and K Street. Reagan was more of a philosophical conservative than observers knew; Newt was drummed out of the U. S. House speakership in part because he did too many deals with Bill Clinton. Reagan, a confident man, never whined about the opposition; Newt never stops.

Still, Newt is aware that the most active part of the GOP base has little use for Mitt Romney, no matter how wary its adherents are of Gingrich's sordid personal history and erratic public behavior. Perhaps hoping against hope, they think that a late pro-Newt push by Sarah Palin and revulsion at Romney's strong-arm tactics will allow Gingrich to finish a stronger second here than current polls suggest he will.

If Gingrich finishes a respectable second here -- meaning a single-digit loss -- he will declare a moral victory and figure out how to generate the cash and the free-media notice that can somehow get him across the moat of February.

But even if he finishes further back, don't expect him to quit. He's been planning since last summer to go all the way, and there is no obvious reason why he would change his mind now.

 

 

Comments

[diogeneso]

07:22 PM on 01/31/2012

As we already know, Newt's commitments aren't worth the CO2 used to emit them.

[phoebe54]

05:02 PM on 01/31/2012

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Bring me more popcorn!

[yauxeybalba]

04:11 PM on 01/31/2012

Newt Commits To Long, Bloody Battle - stocks upon Preparationh Material.

[demisfine]

03:58 PM on 01/31/2012

Newt is going to approach the Obama Campaign for payment for doing all the heavy lifting for them.
They'd be smart to pay him, generously.

[demisfine]

03:51 PM on 01/31/2012

Ego before Party before Country.
That's Newt's motto.

[demisfine]

03:50 PM on 01/31/2012

Isn't it a little bit self-serving for the NewsMax CEO to tell Newt to stay in the race until Tampa?
Maybe NewsMax would benefit more from a public trouncing than would Newton?

[diogeneso]

07:23 PM on 01/31/2012

NewsMax DID get a trouncing when their Trump-sponsored debate was rejected by ALL the candidates, don't you remember?

[demisfine]

08:27 PM on 01/31/2012

I didn't realize that was NewsMax.
Man, they sure do know how to pick 'em.

[TexianLife]

03:29 PM on 01/31/2012

Newtie, the only GOP candidate that keeps the clown race interesting. LOL

[becky bradshaw]

03:20 PM on 01/31/2012

Reagan ran for President from 1968 until finally winning in 1980. He never worked in Washington, but it is inaccurate to call him an outsider.

Gingrich was a reformer during his period in Congress, and did not lose his Speakership because of "too many deals with Clinton". It was a combination of ethics violations and Clinton battles (and the resulting price at the Congressional polls) that cost him his job.

Reagan constantly whined about the Democrats. Constantly.

Reference:
Gingrich-Clinton Feud: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_1995_and_1996
Reagan the Whiner: http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/lauck200404020858.asp

[PatriotForever]

02:57 PM on 01/31/2012

It's good voters are getting a chance to see the real Newt. The selfish,egomaniac won't stop until he destroys Romney and the republican Party. In Newt's mind,he is the only one deserving of being the nominee. Similar to Republicans position that only a republican can be President.
When President Clinton was asked if Gingrich had anything to do with the balanced budgets that Gingrich takes credit for. Clinton's answer was NOT REALLY. When Gingrich takes credit for working with Reagan,we now find out Reagan did not like Newt and Newt was obstructing Reagan's policies. No,Newt is a windbag.

[Bobbito]

04:22 PM on 01/31/2012

Agreed, but. He is keeping Mittzi up nights & forcing the SuperPacs to spend like drunken Girl scouts....& this is before they even begin to tussle with the battle of the SuperPac ads the Dems will bring....

[PatriotForever]

01:13 AM on 02/01/2012

We should get more info tonight on how much and who is financing the Super Pacs.
With Mitt's win tonight and Newt's need for self destruction,this will get very interesting.

[ronp121]

02:51 PM on 01/31/2012

Stick with it Newt. Everyday that Mitt has to spend looking over his shoulder to see what kind of damage you are doing to him is another day Obama can get a little siesta time in.

[phal4875]

02:26 PM on 01/31/2012

"Newt sees himself as another Reagan," said Roger Stone. What Republican doesn't?

[Datlbme]

02:20 PM on 01/31/2012

The vitriol directed at the GOP establishment coming from Newton Leroy and the TP is so extreme, they're not even giving a second thought to the fact that they could bring down the very party they were trying to take over. As a Progressive, I applaud them and wish them well. IMO, if Newton continues his 'junk yard dog' attack till the end of the primary, Willard Milton will be severly damaged. I am not saying Pres O will have a cakewalk because anything can happen in the political arena. What I am saying is that Newton Leroy Gingrich will have done a lot of the Dem's grunt work.

[abbadabba]

09:55 AM on 01/31/2012

Ah, I thought someone had come up with another Bunker take with Newtie on that great German film. Those are absolutely hilarious. I'm fond of the one where the fuhrer freaks because they hired a Jazz band. OMG, it's really brilliant.

[pmoschetta]

01:53 PM on 01/31/2012

Newt sees himself as "another Reagan" while I see him, as "corrupt, loud-mouthed-lying-lobbyist, adulterating, and typical 21st century republican fraud"

[senator11]

08:46 AM on 01/31/2012

Gingrich will receive a pummeling in Florida today. He is an individual with a sharp political mind, but one with an enormously over-sized ego, and needs to do the right thing, and step aside.

He is no Reagan. He is unelectable. Romney, for all the criticism he receives, will be the man that will do the right thing and lead this country back from the abyss of the current Occupier.

[Harbinger08]

11:00 AM on 01/31/2012

Not going to happen. Romney will lose to the president, with a little providence and common sense, badly. Come on, he couldn't even beat McCain, and Obama mopped up the floor with HIM. So suddenly Romney is a better choice. Something you're not telling the rest of us?

[wesinohio]

11:19 AM on 01/31/2012

Neither Gingerich nor Romney have any chance of defeating a duly elected, well qualified and very effective (under the circumstances), President Obama. He will be more effective after the 2012 elections if, and it seems probable, great numbers of Republicans are sent home and the partisan gridlock ends. Business is better now, 3 years into Obama's historic presidency, yet you, sir, think people want to go back to trickle-down economics? That's simply ridiculous. I am a business owner and I am enjoying the best times for my company since Clinton was president. I have many things I would like to see happen after 2012, but they don't include tax breaks for the very wealthy - on the contrary, I hope we see tax increases on them. Of course the Republicans will lose big time in 2012 - as they should - for the good of our country.

[sfsoma]

05:34 PM on 01/31/2012

Partisan gridlock never ends. If both houses were Dem it would be blue dogs vs. progs.again. Remember? K St. pits these tools against each other with their $$$ so nothing gets done.

[Bobbito]

08:39 AM on 01/31/2012

Crusade is a good analogy, combining the elements of fanatacism & religion.
As we all know, It worked out well for the Middle Ages.
Maybe that can be the new slogan for the GOP:" Taking You back to a Better Time"......