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Newt Gingrich back on his game
Politico ^ | 2/23/2012 | GINGER GIBSON

Posted on 02/23/2012 7:15:07 AM PST by RoosterRedux

Newt Gingrich didn’t have a game-changing moment in Wednesday night’s Arizona debate.

But the former House speaker’s newest approach to the Republican presidential race — staying above the fray, avoiding attacks and focusing on the issues — proved to be a winner for him anyway.

“Newt’s last two outings were disjointed and low-energy,” said Rick Wilson, a GOP strategist who is unaligned in the presidential race. “Tonight was markedly better.” But Gingrich had more ground to make up than the other candidates in Wednesday’s debate. More than his GOP rivals, Gingrich has used his debate performances — often marked by scathing attacks on the media — as a springboard for jump-starting his erratic campaign. Many attributed Gingrich’s sole win this primary season in South Carolina to a confident performance in a pre-primary debate.

As his poll numbers have continued to dive, the debate was seen as one of Gingrich’s last opportunities to regain traction before Super Tuesday on March 6. The question is whether a good debate performance can translate into major momentum so late in the game, especially with Rick Santorum now challenging Mitt Romney for first place.

“He dealt himself back in the game with some of the Newt magic,” Wilson said. “But Newt doing well now comes out of Santorum’s numbers, not Mitt’s.”

Gingrich laughed and smiled during the debate, leaned back in his chair on several occasions and beamed when Romney gave him several pointed looks during his responses to questions. When asked to use one word to describe himself, Gingrich responded with: “Cheerful.”

“He looked relaxed and looked like he was having fun,” said Chip Saltsman, who was Mike Huckabee’s campaign manager in 2008. “Definitely in his element.”

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gingrich; newt; newt2012
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1 posted on 02/23/2012 7:15:09 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: RoosterRedux

Absolutely! There is an online Newt Rally tonight at 8pm EST http://newtville.com/?p=106 be there! :-)


2 posted on 02/23/2012 7:16:53 AM PST by lahargis (https://www.newt.org/donate)
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To: RoosterRedux

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEQQtwIwAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymotion.com%2Fvideo%2Fxo9pi_the-monkees-daydream-believer_music&ei=V1hGT6m6MIyXtwfWgrGlDg&usg=AFQjCNHUXupkBs4-0qclle5Bt-_jGg-2Wg


3 posted on 02/23/2012 7:18:08 AM PST by org.whodat (Sorry bill, I should never have made all those jokes about you and Lewinsky, have fun.)
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To: RoosterRedux
With the field narrowed down to 4 (really 3) it's easy to see that newt is the clear choice. His intellect, sense of history, deference to the constitution, debating ability, statesmanship and ability to think big is way ahead of the other schoolboys.
4 posted on 02/23/2012 7:23:04 AM PST by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget)
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To: paul51

well... I agree. ... at this juncture yes.


5 posted on 02/23/2012 7:27:15 AM PST by Chuzzlewit
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To: paul51

Yep. Newt is heads and shoulders above Romney and Santorum.


6 posted on 02/23/2012 7:29:09 AM PST by RoosterRedux (Go Newt!)
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To: RoosterRedux

I have a solution. Howsabout if Mittens drops out. That way Paul can continue to pretend that he is a Republican while tickling the fancy of Libertarians, and Newt and Rick can talk to the Republicans about the real issues, and who is best to lead this nation out of the morass of obamanomics and the destructive and ever-increasing creep of the entitlement mentality and the (im)moral calculus that goes with it.


7 posted on 02/23/2012 7:29:14 AM PST by Belteshazzar (We are not justified by our works but by faith - De Jacob et vita beata 2 +Ambrose of Milan)
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To: RoosterRedux

Newt was great! Romney and Paul are clearly working as a team, even coordinating, it seems. CNN has picked up on that too, as they clearly assisting the two in piling on Santorum. I just don’t understand Paul’s motivation.


8 posted on 02/23/2012 7:29:45 AM PST by KansasGirl
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To: paul51

The fickle voters fail to see his “Statesmanship”, I couldn’t agree more with your post.


9 posted on 02/23/2012 7:31:06 AM PST by gitmogrunt (Newt 2012..... A Statesman America Needs Now.)
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To: KansasGirl

“I just don’t understand Paul’s motivation.”

Getting his son on the ticket this year as VP or set up for a run of his own in 2016.


10 posted on 02/23/2012 7:32:03 AM PST by GOPsterinMA (Farewell sweet Rick, we barely knew ye...)
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To: RoosterRedux

I agree. Newt did an excellent job in the debate. He could have countered the Romney /Paul team a little bit more but overall Newt was insightful and articulate.


11 posted on 02/23/2012 7:40:13 AM PST by detective
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To: RoosterRedux
I thought Newt had a good night. Good ideas. Going after Obama. Articulate and affable this go around.

Rick, OTOH, did not do as well. He was under attack and they scored some hits on him, diminishing what he presents as a solid, dependable, and unchanging devotion to certain conservative principles.

His vote for planned parenthood funding and the reasons he gave were not good, IMHO. Abortion is a signature issue for him (and should be for us all) and putting him in a position where he had to explain the "politics" of why he voted for that funding because he had to in order to get other things passed punctuated exactly what is wrong in Washington and he was a part of it.

Same thing on the bail outs. He rode Romney hard on being for Wall Street Bail Outs while not being for the Car Industry bailouts and how inconsistant Romeny was, and how Romney's reasons were just political speech. And then Rommeny comes up with the fact that Santorum supported the Airliner Bail Outs and Santorum had to launch into the same type of political speech to defend it and say how in his case, "it was different." Did not wash too well IMHO, and I am a Santorum supporter.

So, Santorum did not have a good night, though I still believe he is the most conservative of the bunch.

We'll have to see how it plays out next week in Michigan and Arizona. If Romeny wins both of those by any appreciable margin it will hurt Santorum, and the great hope will then be that Super Tuesday with Newt in the South becomes the next fire break against Romney.

Just my opinion.

12 posted on 02/23/2012 7:43:21 AM PST by Jeff Head (Liberty is not free. Never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: GOPsterinMA

Paul could be trying to manuever to be the “next in line” after Romney, since this time around “it’s Romney’s turn”.


13 posted on 02/23/2012 7:44:35 AM PST by Cletus.D.Yokel (Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Alterations - The acronym explains the science.)
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To: RoosterRedux

One thing has become apparent. It’s easy to stay above the fray when you don’t have a big bullseye on your back. At this point Newt isn’t leading the pack and therefore Flip and his hounds and his media enablers aren’t focused on tearing him apart. Romeny has no conservative creds, so the only way he can campaign is through constant carpet bombing of whatever conservative has managed to gain traction.

Romney is the poison that has resulted in all the carnage in this year’s pubbie primary season beginning with Perry. He is an absolutely loathsome individual.


14 posted on 02/23/2012 7:44:38 AM PST by bereanway
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To: bereanway

[ Romney is the poison that has resulted in all the carnage in this year’s pubbie primary season beginning with Perry. He is an absolutely loathsome individual. ]

I couldn’t agree more.


15 posted on 02/23/2012 7:49:32 AM PST by KansasGirl
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To: RoosterRedux

I like Newt but he only seems to do well when he is not a front runner. I can’t really explain it but he does better when he is almost a spectator. When the fire is aimed at him, he doesn’t seem to be able to “rise above it” the way he did last night. If he can keep this Newt going even when he is the target, he has my vote. Time will tell...


16 posted on 02/23/2012 7:53:57 AM PST by marstegreg
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel

Right.


17 posted on 02/23/2012 8:06:10 AM PST by GOPsterinMA (Farewell sweet Rick, we barely knew ye...)
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To: Jeff Head
Rand for VP?

.

18 posted on 02/23/2012 8:06:52 AM PST by Elle Bee
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To: RoosterRedux
Newt was never off his game. Romney's minions spent millions on negative ads in Iowa and Florida.

Problem is you will pay for this Romney. I wouldn't vote for you to be dog catcher.

19 posted on 02/23/2012 8:12:16 AM PST by McGruff (Go Newtclear.)
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To: bereanway
He is loathsome.

He fights dirty and he's a liar.

Plus, any man who could put the family dog of the roof for a 12 hour drive is despicable (if not a psychopath). Either put the dog in the car and put the luggage on the luggage rack or leave the dog at at the vets.

20 posted on 02/23/2012 8:12:48 AM PST by RoosterRedux (Go Newt!)
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