Free Republic

Newt Gingrich - 15,175 - (28%) Herman Cain - 9,703 - (18%) Mitt Romney - 9,495 - (17%) Rick Perry - 7,744 - (14%) Michele Bachmann - 3,345 - (6%) Ron Paul - 3,076 - (5%) Rick Santorum - 2,373 - (4%) Jon Huntsman - 666 - (1%) Gary Johnson - 650 - (1%)

Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) - Surging Republican presidential contender Herman Cain has picked up another morale booster in the race for the GOP nomination. The conservative businessman decisively won a tea party straw poll held in Columbia, South Carolina, Saturday afternoon. Cain captured an eye-popping 55% of the vote. His closest challenger, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, picked up 14.5%. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann garnered 8% to come in third. The two candidates with the most money in their campaign bank accounts, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, nearly finished at the back of the pack...

Herman Cain has the highest favorable rating of any Republican presidential candidate among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents polled by Gallup, according to a survey released today. Cain's 77-percent favorable rating edges out former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose favorable rating is 72 percent, says Gallup.Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is third at 66 percent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is fourth at 63 percent, former Sen. Rick Santorum is fifth at 62 percent, Rep. Michele Bachmann is sixth at 59 percent, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is seventh at 54 percent, and Rep. Ron Paul is eighth at 53 percent.The survey was conducted between Sept. 26 and Oct. 9. The...

<p>Newt Gingrich called for a middle path on immigration reform – implying a limited amnesty – as he made his presidential campaign pitch to the Republican-friendly Hispanic 100 on Thursday at the Newport Beach’s Balboa Bay Club.</p> <p>“Both sides are wrong,” he said to the 300 gathered at group’s annual black-tie gala. “Those who say, ‘Kick everybody out’ – they’re wrong. Those who say, ‘Give amnesty to everyone’ – they’re wrong.</p>

What Changed Since November 2010? October 13, 2011 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: My question to you, after all of this, somebody tell me: What has changed from November of 2010 regarding the Tea Party? What's changed?Chuck Schumer running around, (imitating Schumer) "We beat 'em back. Hell, we can't even find 'em, they don't show up anywhere anymore. Tea Party? They're not professionals, they're just average citizens. They don't even like government. They don't like politics."They were fed up for a while, but as far as the Democrats are convinced you Tea Party are out of energy, you've had your say,...

DES MOINES, Iowa — Hoping to revive his flagging bid for the Republican presidential nomination, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is calling for an overhaul of the way Americans pay taxes, buy health care and contribute to the Social Security system.Gingrich mapped out the 10-point plan, which he’s calling The 21st Century Contract with America, in a speech at a Des Moines insurance company Thursday. Key elements include repealing President Barack Obama’s health care plan, giving taxpayers the option of paying a flat tax and allowing young people to opt out of Social Security.

"Gingrich is up a nominal five points, and Romney four, while Paul is down six, and Bachmann four."

If Tuesday night’s Republican debate is a sign of things to come, the next campaign boom might be coming from Newt Gingrich. The former speaker turned in his best debate performance so far in a New Hampshire forum hosted by Bloomberg News and the Washington Post, and Gingrich might already be experiencing the kind of surge that lifted Herman Cain to the top of the polls in the weeks since the Sept. 22 FOX News/Google debate if more Republicans could have seen the show. It makes sense, because it was the ideal environment for him: a policy-driven discussion on fiscal...

We need a real conservative and fast. Bachman came and went and does not have the resources to compete. Santorum cannot catch fire. Cain does not have the resources and staff to really compete and his 9-9-9- while bold, has too many holes in it. Perry, who I thought would be our savior needs to sit on a cattle prong during the debate and get some fire, and that is not going to happen. He has come and gone. Huntsman is not a conservative, in fact he may be coming out of the closet soon. Romney is a RINO, as...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich targeted Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank in tonight’s Bloomberg and Washington Post Republican debate at Dartmouth College. The Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill signed by President Obama has been a popular target among the Republican candidates. But Gingrich went farther than attacking the bill. Responding to a question about whether Wall Street executives should go to jail for the financial collapse, Gingrich responded, “If you want to put people in jail…you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and let’s look at the politicians who created the environment, the politicians who profited from the...

Raleigh, N.C. – Herman Cain has surged into the lead in Iowa, and Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann crashed, with three months still to go in the race for the first nominating contest. Cain has 30% to Mitt Romney’s 22%, Ron Paul’s 10%, Perry’s 9%, Newt Gingrich’s and Bachmann’s 8%, Rick Santorum’s 5%, and Jon Huntsman’s and Gary Johnson’s 1%. When PPP last polled the state in August, just after Bachmann’s straw poll win and Perry’s entrance into the race, Perry led with 22% to Romney’s 19%, Bachmann’s 18%, Paul’s 16%, Cain’s 7%, and Gingrich’s and Santorum’s 5%, so Perry...

The Root-and-Branch CandidateGingrich doesn't want to beat just Obama, but statism, too. The question is simple but profound: Will the 2012 presidential-election campaign be about big ideas? Ideas like whether the American people are still masters of their own destiny or instead have resigned themselves to a rule of lawyers advertising itself as “the rule of law”?To push these fundamentals to the fore is the rationale of Newt Gingrich’s candidacy. If ever there were a big-ideas guy, it’s the former House speaker. Ideas seem to churn out of him faster than the Treasury churns out greenbacks for “green energy.” But...

"In fact, Gingrich's growing support among moderates, as well as some conservatives, is so large that he finishes second to Cain in all four states, a surge that's almost as impressive as Cain's." "A "two-man" race? That's how many pundits described the Republican contest just a couple of weeks ago. But with Cain and Gingrich the only two GOP candidates rapidly increasing their voter support, it's no longer Romney and Perry who can claim that mantle."

Just tossing this out to see what others think... As Cain's meteoric rise in the polls continues, overlooked is the equally surprising strength in Newt's numbers. Left for dead a few months ago, after a series of gaffes and miscues that made him a semi-laughingstock, Newt has reinvented his campaign, and has risen in the polls to about double-digit levels. He won't be the nominee, but can we talk about a Cain/Gingrich ticket? In many ways..it makes sense...a lot of sense.

Public Policy Polling surveyed three states over the weekend, including what is certain to be the highly contested battleground state of North Carolina. While full results have not been released, PPP teased those results on Twitter on Monday afternoon; what they found was surprising. In all three states, businessman Herman Cain​ led among GOP primary voters with Newt Gingrich​ coming in second in North Carolina.

His debate performances and new plan are making him seem viable.Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign got off to a self-admittedly “bad start,” which is more than a bit of an understatement. His candidacy has been dismissed since then — but two recent polls show improvement. He now plans to make a splash with his “21st Century Contract with America.”Gingrich has consistently gotten some of the biggest applause lines in the presidential debates, and wisely positioned himself to gain by staying out of the combat as the others attacked each other. A recent CNN poll, taken after the the...

Bill Clinton thinks he deserves more credit for reforming welfare and balancing the budget. “I go crazy every time I read the conventional wisdom,” he said Friday night at his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark. “So part of the Republican narrative is that I was ‘saved’ from myself by the election of the Republican Congress [in 1994] that ‘forced me’ to do welfare reform and ‘made the balanced budget possible.’” Clinton said reporters and commentators “keep saying this, overlooking all relevant facts.”

Newt Gingrich to detail new ‘Contract With America’By Sandhya Somashekhar Former House speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday will outline a set of sweeping changes to government that he says will foster a “national renewal” in the United States and return the country to its founding principles. Gingrich, who is trying to revive his presidential campaign after a series of stumbles early on, will unveil the 26-page plan at a press event in Iowa. It is modeled on the 1994 “Contract With America” that Gingrich helped write while in Congress. The new plan, which Gingrich has dubbed a “21st Century Contract...

The founder of the Tea Party Nation — one of the largest coordinated groups in the conservative Tea Party movement — announced Monday that he would endorse former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. "Gingrich is the candidate who has the vision to fundamentally change the Federal Government. Gingrich has the unique capabilities to be the field general. He is the big idea man, much as Ronald Reagan was," Judson Philips, founder of the group, wrote in a blog post Monday. Philips is the second prominent Tea Party leader to endorse Gingrich this month, after Allen Olson, chairman of the...

Cain Soars, Perry Stumbles, Romney Poised and Stable by Tony Lee 09/23/2011 Nine Republican candidates debated in Orlando, Florida on Thursday at a debate sponsored by FOX News and Google. Businessman Herman Cain re-introduced himself to America and was substantive, inspirational, and personable, and his stock improved more than any other candidate's after the debate. Texas Gov. Rick Perry had a night he will want to forget (if he has not already) while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remained composed and steady and did nothing to hurt his stock as the default candidate of choice among Republicans. Here are...