As posted on FR yesterday, Gingrich is doing a phone campaign for Maldonado.
I am very disappointed in Newt.
No doubt Newt thinks having a statewide elected Hispanic Republican in office in CA is a good thing... it is, BUT, this is not the right man for the job.
Although... Newt has been known to curry favor with liberal Republicans when he was in Congress, which really didn't do much for him in the end. When he first ran for Congress in '74, Newt was actually considered a Rockefeller Republican (he was endorsed by the infamously liberal rag Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AKA the "Urinal & Constipation") running against the Democrat Segregationist incumbent, John Flynt (whom is still alive today at the age of 91). When he endorsed his successor, Johnny Isakson, who was regarded as a bit too liberal for his district, Newt offended a lot of his Conservative supporters (although to our pleasant surprise, Isakson has grown decidedly more Conservative now that he is in the Senate).
Sorry for going a bit into GA politics, just trying to get into Newt's mindset.