I would agree with about 80% of what you said above. However, Newt was not releasing that statement to Free Republic members who already know it. He is trying to break through to some small percentage of those indoctrinated by the schools and the media. All we need is to break through and switch about 1-2% to win elections. Newt, on his good days, is a powerful ally in that fight.
Converting Democrats does little good if they don't vote, or if they're in the wrong states.
One of the quicky 'what if' analyses demonstrated that as few as 100,000 more Republican voters voting Republican were needed to switch states from one column to another in sufficient number to change the electoral vote to a Romney win.
It pains me that Romney needed so few Republicans to eek out a victory ~ you'd think there'd be a vast number who'd walk out on the puke, but there it is.
Still, registration drives are the name of the game.
BTW, the Democrats are definitely aware of how narrow their victory was and understand that they are OVERCLUSTERED in too few states. In the long run they may well be so marginalized that they cease being able to run national elections.