Posted on 11/23/2006 6:36:57 PM PST by no dems
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is telling associates that he’s launching a major new grass-roots movement to recapture the soul of the Republican Party, and quite possibly the White House.
Gingrich says that the effort will be much larger than his founding of GOPAC and his creation of the Contract with America.
The Georgia Republican is spearheading a program called "American Solutions for Winning the Future” in an effort to revitalize the GOP with Ronald Reagan conservatism.
This is the third time Gingrich has led a drive to steer the Republican Party toward traditional conservative values. In 1986, Gingrich took the chair of the Republican political action committee GOPAC and transformed it into an effective tool for electing conservative candidates. The stated theme of GOPAC was "a conservative opportunity society replacing the liberal welfare state.”
GOPAC was a key element in Gingrich’s rise to the leadership of the Republican caucus in Congress.
Then in 1994, as House Minority Leader, Gingrich was a co-author of the Contract with America, a conservative political platform that helped the GOP gain 54 seats in the House and end 40 years of Democratic majorities there.
Gingrich’s new program echoes the title of his 2005 book, "Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America.”
Sources close to the former speaker say Gingrich believes the Republican Party has once again lost its way, and needs to refocus its agenda with an eye toward regaining Congress in 2008.
Stepping back into the political spotlight could help Gingrich’s presidential aspirations as well.
He recently told an interviewer that he won’t decide whether to seek the White House in 2008 until September of 2007.
But insiders predict Gingrich could throw his hat into the ring if a true Reagan conservative doesn’t emerge as a likely GOP candidate.
For the time being, he’s playing his cards close to the vest. "I am not ‘running’ for president, I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen,” he tells Fortune magazine.
Gingrich said he plans to build grass-roots support for the health care, national security, and energy independence ideas he has been promoting for the past six years.
He might be running for Rove's spot.
If the GOP candidate isn't a household name by now how do you expect him/her to fare against HillBill when probably 60% of registered Dems are salivating at the thought of Bill Clinton being back in the WH again?
Only slip on the shoe if it fits.
While I'm at it.......your judgmental attitude toward Newt is a bit naive these days, but.....go for it.
Was Bill Clinton a household name back in '90? No he wasn't.
Newt does have household recognition but unfortunately there are too many squishes in the middle who think that Newt's the big bad wolf.
We need a good conservative governer to come forward soon.
There is some similarity between the two, with Rove leaning to being a more hands-on, nuts and bolts electioneer, and Gingrich leaning to being more of a sweeping sort of ideator. They're both brilliant men. Too bad Newt got so thoroughly "Quayled" by the media, but he did help them along with his own impolitic behavior.
No Clinton wasn't,though in fairness his name was bandied about for the two years prior to the election (sometimes with amusement) and I think Bush 41 would have beat him easily had Ross Perot not changed the equation.
New ideas? No,simply sticking to the old ideas would be a wonderful way of running a conservative party.
Freepers seem to trash anyone who isn't their candidate. The must not be aware of how this hurts us all.
I'd rather see substantive debate on the issues.
Personally, I think Newt is the best speaking and brightest conservative in a long time. Should he run, he will have my backing.
The rats that I eavesdrop on fear Newt far more than Rove, both as an operative '08 and candidate '08.
Huh?
Sort of like saying the Pope seems Catholic.
Not one of the current crop of GOP "Leaders Of The Pack" (Varooom Varooom) is electable in my opinion.
Is there anyone out there that is?
I'm sure Newt will relish the challenge. Why don't we let them do it instead of on this conservative forum.
When someone who just signed up on FR starts trash talking any of the potential candidates it makes me discount their comments, because I'm never certain if they are true FR people are trolls from the DU..
If he were to get the nomination, and that's a very big "if" as far as I can tell, I could certainly support him, much moreso than any of the putative frontrunners of the moment. I just don't see it happening, though.
By now he's older and the pants aspect ought to be so much easier.
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