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.
Best class I was ever at. Down to earth.
The guy is a History wizz.
Not in this lifetime!
Yeah? I said at least in their 60’s.
You’re right. But remember how pathetic old man McCain looked stumbling around on the debate stage with him?
Judging by the enthusiasm of your posts it is becoming clear that you are not even aware of the reason you defend Herman Cain like a pitbull: You believe (or at least want to believe) that there is a politician out there who will agree with you 100% of the time. Allow me to break the news to you: There isn’t. Your standards make it clear that if Ronald Reagan were alive today, you would have major problems with him. Herman Cain has no record, because he has spent less than two years of his life as a politician. As a result, he sometime makes “mistakes” or “jokes” that he can back-track from, but he always ends up saying exactly what you and I want to hear. Sarah Palin enjoyed the same situation three years ago. I’m not suprised that this doesn’t bother you.
LLS
That right there is some kind of hard to swallow... and newt has never apologized for it... not once.
LLS
I would love to see obama and Newt debating! Newt would carve him up!
No thanks. Have no desire in re-staging the disaster of 2008 with another good old boy GOP Establishment clone like Newt as our candidate
Really stupid politics for the GOP to nominate the one candidate 0’s campaign can plausibly paint to voters in 2012 as “being part of the GOP Party machine that crashed the economy”
How did that work out for us?
I take this post as a "no," you can not summarize Newt Gingrich's position on global warming, or any of his plans regarding it.
I'll also take it to mean that you are having trouble understanding the term "personality cult," what with you being such a cheerleader for Herman Cain that you spend your time trolling threads about his competition. And let's be honest: You don't really seem to know all that much ABOUT his competition, other that a couple of sound bites, and the fact that they are guilty of not being Herman Cain.
Hokey and Ding-a-ling?
I was trying to remember the debate between McCain and obozo and I can’t remember any of it. I must have nodded off.
Wow. Really? Not too good at history either if you don’t remember that Newt was the guy who destroyed his political career in 1997 to make a point about deficts (which he won).
Did I mention that he was the keynote speaker at the original tea party, two blocks from Zucotti Park on April 15th 2009?
It's pretty obvious it's going to be Romney vs. Non-Romney.
He's sticking himself in the latter role.
Sarah said she would not seek the GOP nomination, which leaves a lot of other options.
Don't build up expectations for your candidate so high he cannot possibly meet them.
If Newt stumbles even a bit, it will now hurt him immensely since everyone has talked up how "great" he is going to do.
Newt can put his foot in his mouth. His trash talking Paul Ryan is a good example of how Newt can let his mouth get him into trouble.
Building up these extravagant expectations about Newt is really bad political tactics.
I saw a lecture that Newt gave on the constitution. It was on a public channel and it was a lecture he was giving to a group of college students. I am not sure I had ever heard of him before and he was absolutely brilliant!
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.