Personally, I reject Newt for a couple of reasons: One, he's damaged goods, politically, due to his own personal failures. Two, he's driven by polls and focus groups, not principle (I heard him last summer in Des Moines paying lipservice to the global warming myth, even.) Three, he's a pushover for the Left...Bill and Hillary's favorite Republican boy-toy.
I think that's sort of a self-fulfilling worry. He's damaged because we allow the left to SAY he's damaged. He's certainly not pure; but I see him as an excellent feduciarily-conservative leader.