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WASHINGTON — Newt Gingrich is the strongest Republican candidate when matched head to head against Democratic President Barack Obama, according to a McClatchy-Marist Poll... The former speaker of the House of Representatives is neck and neck with the incumbent president, back just 2 percentage points among registered voters. Obama leads 47 percent to 45 percent... Gov. Mitt Romney is next closest, trailing Obama by 4 percentage points. In that matchup, Obama leads 48 percent to 44 percent... The poll, coming as Gingrich has surged within the Republican field, could boost Gingrich's argument that he would be the party's best voice...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has crushed pizza magnate Herman Cain, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Texas Congressman Ron Paul in a California Public Policy Polling poll of Republican primary voters. With 33 percent of the votes, Gingrich is 10 percentage points in front of Romney and 11 percentage points in front of Cain. Gingrich is 27 percentage points ahead of Perry and 28 percentage points ahead of Paul. The California PPP poll is the latest evidence that Gingrich is benefiting from Cain’s trouble with sexual harassment allegations stemming from his tenure as head of...

The shuffling of the leaderboard in the Republican presidential primary race continues to affect the candidates’ popularity on Facebook. According to our Election Tracker, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is doubling his daily number of new Facebook fans, following a pair of strong debate showings last week. His gain may come at the collapse of former pizza company executive Herman Cain. Cain’s Facebook fan base has dropped from a high of 7,000 fans to just 2,000 daily fans, as his candidacy is plagued by allegations of sexual harassment and a bumbling debate reply on Libya. Here’s the breakdown:...

MANCHESTER, NH -- Following a surge in national polls, Newt Gingrich's distinctive name peppered news headlines frequently over the weekend with gems like "Newtmentum" and "Newtvember." Today, in a move that no other candidate can replicate, the campaign has told NBC News it is joining in the fun, rolling out "Newt Hampshire!", a social media volunteer platform wholly dedicated to Granite State volunteers.

Newt Gingrich is winning over Republicans. Over the past few months, the former House speaker has charmed primary voters one debate at a time. The once underdog — dismissed as a has-been when he first announced his run and the laughingstock of the race after he accumulated $1 million in debt this summer and was abandoned by almost his entire political team — has compellingly mixed historical insight, warmth toward his fellow GOP candidates, and rancor toward the media into a formula that has propelled him to the top of the polls. But is Gingrich the savior the GOP has...

In this cycle, that question applies to, well, everyone except Mitt Romney, whose support has been consistent if not impressive in primary polling. Romney has clearly failed to engage the enthusiasm of the Republican base, which wants a more conservative candidate, as well as hoping for another quality they find missing in Romney. In my column for The Week, I point out the common thread of the boomlet candidates, and explain why Newt Gingrich’s rise might be the candidate that fits that quality best: One might be tempted to just dismiss the latest boomlet for Gingrich as a simple matter...

Yes, Newt Gingrich has spiked in the polls. No, he’s not going to be the nominee. I’ve been trying to duck this one because it feels like laying out the obvious, but, briefly, three reasons: 1. The baggage he’s always had — the marital difficulties, the ethics troubles, a whole bunch of deviations from conservative orthodoxy over the years (such as that ad he shot with Nancy Pelosi: “Our country must take action to address climate change”) — just isn’t going to go away. Republican voters don’t have those things in mind at the moment, but no candidate is more...

Links are listed below: So which Newt are we to believe about his thoughts on Sarah Palin? The one that defended Palin at MSNBC and ripped a reporter to shreds? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjGhy8LVwAo Or the one that wanted to fit in with his RINO-pals George Will and the Libtard Robert Reishshshshshshshwwwwwhshshshshshsh where he agrees with Will and refers to Palin as an a "avoidable gamble" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luwqRA0GWGc Or the Newt that told Palin to "slow down" and "choose her words carefully" after the Gabby Giffords shooting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD6lXNbfahk Or the Newt that went after Palin for endorsing Doug Hoffman in NY-23 http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1009/Gingrich_tweaks_Pawlenty_Palin_for_backing_Hoffman.html If Newt...

Yesterday's global-warming debate between John Kerry and Newt Gingrich was, as the moderator put it, "advertised as a smack-down and a prizefight." But those labels were too modest for Kerry. "Welcome to our environmental version of the Lincoln-Douglas debates," the former Democratic presidential nominee told the crowd in the Russell Caucus Room. "We flipped a coin, and I picked Lincoln." But something funny happened on the way to 1858. Gingrich, a former Republican House speaker, refused to play Douglas to Kerry's Lincoln, instead positioning himself as a tree-hugging green. Before Kerry got a word in, Gingrich conceded that global warming...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday that he strongly supports a federal mandate requiring citizens to buy health insurance – a position that has been rejected by many Republicans, including several who likely will be running against him for the Republican presidential nomination. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Gingrich told host David Gregory that he continues to advocate for a plan he first called for in the early 1990s as a Congressman, which requires every uninsured citizen to purchase or acquire health insurance. Gregory played a clip of Gingrich speaking during an appearance on Meet the Press in...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich toured the trading offices and headquarters of an Omaha-based ethanol company Thursday, touting the corn-based fuel additive as a key part of U.S. efforts to reduce dependence on foreign oil and create environmentally friendly, renewable fuels. “We do not want to be largely dependent on foreign dictatorships who at some point down the road could blackmail us, basically giving us the choice of an economic catastrophe or doing what they want,” Gingrich told workers and executives at Green Plains Renewable Energy at 9420 Underwood Ave. Green Plains began operating its first ethanol plant in Shenandoah,...

MSNBC has a new addition to its staff — Sen. John McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain. On his Wednesday program, MSNBC host Thomas Roberts introduced McCain and asked her to address her back-and-forth with presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. “Can you believe that?” McCain asked. “Former Speaker of the House I’m getting in fights with, I can’t believe it.” In a specific incident addressing some remarks McCain made about his presidential bid, Gingrich said, “How would she have a clue?” “I think he’s delusional,” McCain said. “And him calling me clueless I think is so sexist...

Here his theory: The two candidates who are stable in their numbers are Romney (with a ceiling of about 25 percent of GOP voters) and Ron Paul (who will stay between six and 10 percent). That leaves about 65 percent of Republican voters looking for a home. Cain will continue to drift downward (my words, not Newt's); Santorum, Huntsman, and Bachman are, and will continue to be minor players. So, Newt's thinking goes, he doesn't need to beat Romney - he needs to consolidate the non-Romney vote and he's the only one who can do that.

When Sarah Palin dissed Herman Cain as the "flavor of the week" in September, the Republican presidential candidate pushed back on her assessment. "I got some substance here. Okay? I'm Häagen-Dazs Black Walnut. It lasts longer than a week," Cain told Tonight Show host Jay Leno, apparently unaware the flavor was a limited edition..........

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, in the midst of a Midwestern campaign swing, stumbled Monday when answering a question about whether he agreed or disagreed with President Barack Obama's approach to handling the Libyan crisis. Meeting with Journal Sentinel reporters and editors before fundraising appearances in Milwaukee and Green Bay, Cain was discussing foreign policy in general when he was asked specifically about Obama's handling of Libya. Cain began to answer the question, but wanted to clarify that Obama had supported the uprising. He paused twice, saying at one point that he had "All of this stuff twirling around in...

#fullpost{display:inline;}The fruit doesn't fall far. Newt Gingrich's daughter from his first marriage (he's had 3 marriages) claimed she wanted to "correct the record" earlier this year when she published an article denying that Newt served his first wife divorce papers RIGHT BEFORE SHE DIED. And the Washington Examiner picked the story up again two days ago, claiming that the daughter has now denied the story, thus supposedly showing that it's not true. But of course, she denied something that wasn't even the story. The story wasn't that mom was dying. The story was that Gingrich confronted his wife about...

Washington (CNN) – A new national survey of Republicans indicates that it's basically all tied up between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, with Gingrich on the rise and businessman Herman Cain falling due to the sexual harassment allegations he's been facing the past two weeks. According to a CNN/ORC International Poll released Monday, 24% of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP say Romney is their most likely choice for their party's presidential nominee with Gingrich at 22%. Romney's two-point advantage is well within the survey's sampling error. While the level...

The race for Iowa is beginning in earnest with less than two months to go until the caucuses, and new polling numbers of the Hawkeye State shows it remains fluid - but with Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney ahead of the rest of the field. The survey, taken by Kellyanne Conway's Polling Company for private clients, included hard support (definitely backing a candidate), moderately hard support (probably backing a candidate) and leaners. Continue Reading Including all three categories, Cain leads the field with 20 percent, but is in a statistical dead heat with Gingrich, who gets 19 percent....

Results from new CNN/ORC poll of Republicans: Mitt Romney (24 percent), Newt Gingrich (22 percent), Herman Cain (14 percent), Rick Perry (12 percent), Ron Paul (8 percent), Michele Bachmann (6 percent), Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum (3 percent). Among Republicans, Gingrich has the highest favorables (61 percent), followed by Romney (55 percent), and Cain (47 percent). When all voters are polled, 52 percent think that the sexual harassment allegations against Cain is a serious issue, while 47 percent think the issue has been overblown. Forty-three percent of men are inclined to believe Cain’s version of the story, while 42 percent...

Results from new poll of GOP primary voters from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling: Newt Gingrich (28 percent), Herman Cain (25 percent), Mitt Romney (18 percent), Rick Perry (6 percent), Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul (5 percent), Jon Huntsman (3 percent), Rick Santorum and Gary Johnson (1 percent). One particularly interesting note from PPP: “There’s reason to think that if Cain continues to fade, Gingrich will continue to gain. Among Cain’s supporters 73 percent have a favorable opinion of Gingrich to only 21 percent with a negative one.”