Oh, well maybe I can help out.
First, I think people remember that Newt engineered the historic conservative congressional victory in 1994. I think they also remember the conservative princibles encapsulated in the Contract With America that Newt promised to have voted on in the first 100 days of the new Congress. A promise he kept. They also might remember that Newt battled Clinton over the budget and spending and in that battle he shutdown the government TWICE. Newt won the battle and the federal budget was balanced for the first time in most of our live times. He went on to implement welfare reform which was very high on the conservative to do list. Then in 96 for the first time in 60 years the out of power party, GOP, gained sits in Congress attesting to popularity of the conservatives things Newt and the GOP house did.
People that think Newt is a conservative, think he is a conservative based on his being the most conservative speaker of the house in the modern era and the fact that Newt has done more for conservatives then anyone since Reagan.
thanks for asking :)