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Newt Gingrich is the strongest Republican candidate when matched head to head against Democratic President Barack Obama, according to a McClatchy-Marist Poll released Tuesday. The former speaker of the House of Representatives is neck and neck with the incumbent president, back just 2 percentage points among registered voters. Obama leads 47 percent to 45 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is next closest, trailing Obama by 4 percentage points. In that matchup, Obama leads 48 percent to 44 percent. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is the third best bet for the Republicans right now, 8 points back from Obama. No...

The shuffling of the leaderboard in the Republican presidential primary race continues to affect the candidates’ popularity on Facebook. According to our Election Tracker, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is doubling his daily number of new Facebook fans, following a pair of strong debate showings last week. His gain may come at the collapse of former pizza company executive Herman Cain. Cain’s Facebook fan base has dropped from a high of 7,000 fans to just 2,000 daily fans, as his candidacy is plagued by allegations of sexual harassment and a bumbling debate reply on Libya. Here’s the breakdown:...

Yes, Newt Gingrich has spiked in the polls. No, he’s not going to be the nominee. I’ve been trying to duck this one because it feels like laying out the obvious, but, briefly, three reasons: 1. The baggage he’s always had — the marital difficulties, the ethics troubles, a whole bunch of deviations from conservative orthodoxy over the years (such as that ad he shot with Nancy Pelosi: “Our country must take action to address climate change”) — just isn’t going to go away. Republican voters don’t have those things in mind at the moment, but no candidate is more...

Raleigh, N.C. – Newt Gingrich has taken the lead in PPP's national polling. He's at 28% to 25% for Herman Cain and 18% for Mitt Romney. The rest of the Republican field is increasingly looking like a bunch of also rans: Rick Perry is at 6%, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at 5%, Jon Huntsman at 3%, and Gary Johnson and Rick Santorum each at 1%. Compared to a month ago Gingrich is up 13 points, while Cain has dropped by 5 points and Romney has gone down by 4. Although a fair amount of skepticism remains about the recent...

Here his theory: The two candidates who are stable in their numbers are Romney (with a ceiling of about 25 percent of GOP voters) and Ron Paul (who will stay between six and 10 percent). That leaves about 65 percent of Republican voters looking for a home. Cain will continue to drift downward (my words, not Newt's); Santorum, Huntsman, and Bachman are, and will continue to be minor players. So, Newt's thinking goes, he doesn't need to beat Romney - he needs to consolidate the non-Romney vote and he's the only one who can do that.

“I want to make sure every House Republican is protected from some kind of dishonest Democratic ad. So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood, because I have publicly said those words were inaccurate and unfortunate.” A grateful nation thanks you, Newt Gingrich. The presidential campaign is just starting, and already you’ve given us a passage that will live in infamy — forever — in the annals of American political speech. Your delightful quotation shall be filed under “fiascos” and flagged with a cross-reference to “utter nonsense.” I can’t...

MSNBC has a new addition to its staff — Sen. John McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain. On his Wednesday program, MSNBC host Thomas Roberts introduced McCain and asked her to address her back-and-forth with presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. “Can you believe that?” McCain asked. “Former Speaker of the House I’m getting in fights with, I can’t believe it.” In a specific incident addressing some remarks McCain made about his presidential bid, Gingrich said, “How would she have a clue?” “I think he’s delusional,” McCain said. “And him calling me clueless I think is so sexist...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich continues to surge in the polls. Last week a CBS poll had Herman Cain at 18%, with Mitt Romney and Mr. Gingrich tied at 15%. Even more impressive was the latest McClatchy-Marist poll, which had Mr. Romney at 23%, Mr. Gingrich at 19% and Mr. Cain at 17%. A little over a month ago, Mr. Gingrich was barely above 5% in any poll. Is the former Georgia congressman simply the latest flavor of the month in the wake of the Herman Cain sexual-harassment allegations, or can he actually win? In an interview with me this...

Newt Gingrich strolled onto the campus of Furman University in Greenville eight hours ahead of Saturday’s Republican debate looking very pleased. A campaign that once seemed to have passed him by has come full circle. Can he take advantage of an opportunity that almost no one, except the former speaker, might have expected? The Republican presidential race is at an inflection point. Businessman Herman Cain is on the defensive, defying political gravity but wounded by allegations of sexual harassment and questions about his readiness to be president. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is in even worse shape, struggling to overcome multiple...

NOVEMBER 11, 2011 Polls: Gingrich Grows on GOP Voters By Mary Lu Carnevale Two polls out Friday show former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s campaign gaining traction. And both polls show there’s plenty of room for the race to change dramatically: 17% of respondents are undecided. Newt Gingrich talks to a breakfast crowd during a campaign stop at the Circle Restaurant , Friday, in Epson, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) A McClatchy-Marist poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents finds that Mitt Romney’s poll numbers remain steady – he generally garners the support of about a quarter of the Republican and Republican-leaning voters....

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is building the largest campaign operation to date in South Carolina, hoping to seize conservative tea party support that could help keep his candidacy alive. After picking up a little steam - and cash - with a number of strong debate performances, the former House Speaker is reviving operations with a nine person-strong staff, the campaign announced on Monday. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have the second largest footprint with seven staffers each. Just last week, Bachmann brought on five people, including political strategist Wesley Donehue to lead state strategy and...

Newt Gingrich predicted Tuesday that rival Mitt Romney will be one of the final remaining candidates in the Republican presidential contest, but that it's Gingrich's responsibility to provide a set of solutions to those still uncommitted. Gingrich, the former House Speaker, said there's a "big opportunity for an alternative candidate," given that Romney has not attracted more than 25% support in most national and statewide polls of current candidates. "My job I think is to reach out to the 75 or 80% who aren't currently committed to Romney and to say here's a set of solutions that would actually get...

Newt Gingrich predicts the race for the GOP nomination will come down to two weary candidates: "This will end up being Mitt and Newt." Gingrich, the former Georgia congressman and speaker of the U.S. House, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday that his campaign is now where it needs to be and that by December he'll have the resources to compete head to head with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "And Romney is the real competitor," Gingrich said in his Buckhead campaign headquarters, where he rallied two dozen volunteers before heading to Duluth for a town hall meeting sponsored by...

Don't tell Newt Gingrich, but he's not running against a general election campaign against President Obama just yet. The former speaker of the House campaigns for president with the air of someone with a real shot at the Republican nomination, steadfastly declining to take shots at his GOP rivals on the stump, lobbing criticism at the White House and describing for audiences what his first presidential press conference would be like. Until recently, it all would have been written off in political circles as the work of the overly active imagination of a famously self-confident politician. But lately, Gingrich has...

Newt Gingrich doesn’t seem fazed by criticism from Meghan McCain that his campaign is just a “vanity project.” “How would she have a clue?” asked the former Speaker of the House in a Wednesday interview with The Daily Caller. Gingrich seemed surprised by the accusation from the Daily Beast columnist and daughter of Senator John McCain — especially since his poll numbers mirror her father’s in 2007. [WATCH VIDEO AT THE LINK]