Can Gingrich Break Through? .

Wall Street Journal ^ | 11/02/2011 | Paul Gigot

[SeekAndFind]

The College Board and News Corp. sponsored a forum on education with four GOP presidential candidates last week, and the runaway winner was Newt Gingrich. (Truth in advertising: I moderated the session along with Joel Klein, the former New York schools chancellor who now runs an educational unit for our employer, News Corp. Each candidate received 30 minutes, which was refreshing after the 30-second trivial pursuits of the debates.)

Michele Bachmann (local control), Rick Santorum (moral values) and Herman Cain (business principles) stuck mainly to their talking points, but Mr. Gingrich kept the crowd of 1,000 or so engaged and entertained with a wide-ranging tutorial on everything from the failures of "L.A. Unified" to Jeb Bush's Florida "virtual school." The session was a reminder of Mr. Gingrich's knowledge of government and rhetorical skills, which were overwhelmed by his early campaign missteps.

This is an unusual primary season, however, and the question is whether voters will now give Mr. Gingrich another look. The former House speaker's allies think so. They say Ms. Bachmann and Rick Perry can't come back, Herman Cain will fade as his national sales tax gets broader scrutiny, and neither Mr. Santorum nor Jon Huntsman has attracted much voter support. That leaves Mr. Gingrich to emerge from Iowa as the main challenger to Mitt Romney. Even if Mr. Romney wins New Hampshire, the campaign then becomes a two-man race heading into South Carolina and Florida, where Mr. Gingrich's debating talents and conservative agenda will contrast with Mr. Romney's poll-driven caution.

That scenario may be a long-shot, but no one should rule it out. After Thursday's education session, Mr. Gingrich mentioned that in a conventional year he might not get that second look.

[ghost of nixon]

Here come the highly predictable references to his appearance with Nancy Pelosi in a political ad several years ago. If that’s all you have, then Newt ain’t that bad. For the record, Newt does not support cap and trade

...great point - also, if we are restricting our candidate to having a perfect track record on global warming - then the ONLY two qualifiers would be Rush Limbaugh and Jim Inhofe. Maybe Rick Perry qualifies - I don't know. The AGW scam fooled a lot of GOP politicians & pundits for a long time, but I know Newt is smart enough to recognize the scam now.

[hdbc]

I agree with you about Newt being the perfect VP for Cain. Except, unfortunately, I think Cain is finished, he’s not handling these allegations well. Newt may be our best hope to avoid a Mittens nomination.

[Victor]

"....I like Cain and will vote for him if he is our nominee. Perry, on the other hand, is a joke....."

I prefer Cain, of course, as you do. But I wonder what would happen if this sexual harassment accusation actually takes him down? Then what?

Given the choice of Romney vs. Perry.....I'll take Perry.

But I believe Herman will pull through. People see through this charade being staged by the communists.