Newt's very smart. He knows it's coming and apparently feels he can take the heat. If he can't he'll simply have to pass the torch.
I think there's method to his anti-media campaigning. Anyone who's been on magazine covers as "The Gingrich Who Stole Christmas" and "Uncle Scrooge" knows how the media roll. I suspect he has some interesting arrows hidden in his quiver. One of them is his insistence on Lincoln-Douglas type debates with Zero with no media interference. I hope he can manage it.
Being able to take the heat isn’t going to be the issue. It’s going to be whether the laundry list of baggage will resonate with the voters. There are adults voting now who weren’t even around or were too young to pay attention when all that stuff was going on. Some have simply forgotten and others (like myself) haven’t had all his baggage in one neat, giant pile. Cain’s “sin” was a few whispers and a couple of less than credible women (and I use the term loosely) who both made similar claims in other jobs and were said to be real pains to work with according to their coworkers/bosses. Put the character issues (the affairs and the like) together with things like his Contract with the Earth, his “green” couch adventure with Princess Nancy, his endorsement of Dede, etc. and it may be hard for people to overlook the sheer number of things he has to answer too. Hopefully Cain will continue to stay in the top 3 because if he doesn’t, it’s Romney by default. The timing is absolutely perfect for that, too. But considering how hard they had to work to just bump Cain down a few points (he’s still ahead in most early primary states & national polls are pretty useless right now). Now, a couple months out they get to start on Newt.
Cindie