Help Keep FR The #1
Conservative Site
On The Web
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
Posted on 11/04/2011 6:31:27 PM PDT by presidio9
Newt Gingrich predicts the race for the GOP nomination will come down to two weary candidates: "This will end up being Mitt and Newt."
Gingrich, the former Georgia congressman and speaker of the U.S. House, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday that his campaign is now where it needs to be and that by December he'll have the resources to compete head to head with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"And Romney is the real competitor," Gingrich said in his Buckhead campaign headquarters, where he rallied two dozen volunteers before heading to Duluth for a town hall meeting sponsored by the 7th District Republican Party.
An obviously upbeat Gingrich said he survived June and July, which he called the darkest two months of his 53-year political career, and is poised to make a serious run at the nomination.
It's a remarkable turnaround for a candidate many pundits and news outlets had declared out of the race earlier this year. And while polls have shown Gingrich inching into sole possession of third place -- including a Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday that had him distancing himself from fourth-place Rick Perry -- he's still at least 10-12 percentage points behind Romney and Atlanta resident Herman Cain.
But Cain has suffered through four days of brutal news coverage over allegations of sexual harassment from when the former Godfather's Pizza CEO was head of the National Restaurant Association. Polls have yet to reflect any impact of the charges, and it's unclear whether Cain will slip from the top tier as have past challengers, such as Perry, the governor of Texas, and U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn.
Gingrich, who suffered through his own bouts of scandal earlier in his career, said Cain needed to hole up somewhere and figure his way out of this mess.
"My first advice is what he hasn’t done, which is say nothing until you sit down with your lawyers and with the people who know the facts," Gingrich said. "You thoroughly and completely understand them and you go through a period where everybody asks you -- in your team -- every possible negative question so you thoroughly understand what will happen."
Gingrich said Cain is going through "a rough patch" and whether or not Cain survives Gingrich said he is ready to eclipse Cain.
"We just had the two best days," Gingrich said. "We raised more money Monday than we ever had before and we raised more money Tuesday. Those two days we raised 50 percent more than we raised in July."
As for critics who say he lacks the resources or organizational strength to compete in Iowa, whose caucus will be held Jan. 3, Gingrich said there's more than enough time.
"That’s part of what’s funny all summer," he said. "I work back from victory. Victory in Iowa starts about the 10th of December. Everybody else was saying, ‘Oh my gosh, look at August, look at September.' I’m like, well, it’s not the 10th of December."
The American people, Gingrich said, are tough and expect their leaders to be tougher.
"The job of the political leader is to reach past the distractions and to continue to communicate what they think matters, and to try and do it in a way that the American people decide they offer a better future," he said.
In Duluth, before about 300 local Republicans, as well as several local tea party leaders, Gingrich unveiled plans that he said could save the federal government trillions of dollars. His plans include turning Medicaid into a block-grant program that would allow states to tailor plans for its needs.
Questions from the audience dealt with national security, federal spending, concerns about the Environmental Protection Agency and border control.
Newt...the BJ-man and Mitt-ster are toast....
The pair will be Herman and a lady....
rino vs rino.
Once again,Newt lets his ego get the best of him.
Choose your reptile.
omg... I hadn’t even thought of that... do you think Cain would maybe pick Palin as VP ?!?!?!
wow that would make my decade.
Don’t think so. . .IMHO. Personally; think it time to drop the vision of Sarah, to the rescue. (Assuming, of course; that you did not mean Michelle.)
same-old, same-old. NO! We need no old GOP guys—they are owned or able to be bribed. Mittens is just a socialist/democrat and he would put the nail in the coffin.
We need an extreme 180 person to put us off of this socialist/globalist train.
Fine with me. Newt vs the leading RINO.
The clueless Cain and Incoherent Perry need to go. Take the supporting cast with them.
Rino and Rino lite. Sorry I’ll pass
He’s positive in his outlook. Watch Newt and Cain on Saturday via CSPAN, 7 pm central time.
I think there is a huge line forming all applying for the job of VP. Newt is just one of those in line,IMHO.
If that’s what we’ve got left standing ...I’d take Newt in a heartbeat.
... still praying for Perry to pull a bunny out of his hat though...
Main thing is...no MATTER WHO WINS THE NOD... we have to unite and support. Also more conservatives in Congress, Senate and a Republican in the WH. Period. That’s it. If you stay home and don’t vote if your guy isn’t nominated, you might as well go squat in a tent on Wall street because you just tossed the country.
There is nothing more to say.
“....the darkest two months of his 53-year political career .....”
Looking at his bio I don’t see any 53 years. Must be a typo. Perhaps 33 years they meant.
Newt? The “adult”?
Hmmm the “adult” who has consistencely stabbed the Conservative movement in the back in the name of political expediency?
Newt who threw Paul Ryan under the bus, trash talked the GOP Health Care plan as “Right wing social engineering”, chastised Conservative for not backing uber RINO Dede Scusafasa, purposes a Amnesty lite “Middle way on Immigration” and jumped on the Global Warming couch with Nancy Pelosie??
So “adult” now means being a Bush like candidate who will talk a tough game on the Campaign trail and then go to DC and be a good little crony capitalist liberal GOP water boy.
No thanks, have no interest in voting for McCain 2.0 in 2012.
Newt was always full of answers, amongst other things.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.