[P-Marlowe]

The question marks are his affairs.

I don't think the average voter cares. Bill Clinton faced the same thing in 1992. IT'S THE ECONOMY STUPID was the battle cry.

When push comes to shove the average voter votes his pocketbook over his religion.

Gingrich can communicate a positive message better than all the other candidates combined. He has baggage, but he carries it well.

[xzins]

You all won't like this theology, but in Newt's case his first and second marriages were annulled.

Annulment means essentially that those marriages should not have happened.

Divorce says that you were once married, but now you aren't. Divorce is a matter of civil law.

Annulment says you were never truly married in the first place. Something necessary for a valid marriage was missing. Annulment is a matter of Church law.

In Gingrich's case, I can see this, especially in the first marriage. His wife was his high school geometry teacher who began an affair with him while he was a 16 year old high school kid. We consider that to be child abuse and endangerment and violation of a position of trust. In our state many have lost licenses for that behavior, and when it is provable, many have gone to jail.

That marriage was not made in heaven. In this case, though a non-Catholic, I can really see the point.

There was something inappropriate in that relationship from the beginning.