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During an interview with CBS News Radio, Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich on Wednesday fended off questions about the hefty sums he received to give advice to mortgage company Freddie Mac.

While I poll and analyze the 2012 presidential race straight down the middle, an equal opportunity offender, I am in a unique position to explain who "the new" Newt Gingrich is, and why he is starting to race up to the top of national and various state polls. Having known Newt since I was 19, serving as a youthful debate advisor in 1980, a lawyer in recount elections, his campaign chairman from 1992 until he resigned from office and a client of his consulting group in his early years in business, I cover virtually every aspect of his adult life....

Newt Gingrich, piñata.  Expect it -- now that Gingrich is enjoying rough parity with Mitt Romney and Herman Cain in the polls.  Expect Gingrich to start taking whacks from his GOP competitors and their allies.  What's curious is if the left and fossil media join in the Newt-whacking now or wait. Gingrich is also starting to enjoy some good ink from conservative writers.  Ed Morrissey opines at The Week that Gingrich is the real deal.  Jeffrey Lord, writing yesterday at The American Spectator, floats the notion that the former Speaker might be an American Churchill. Jonah Goldberg pens a more measured...

Newt Gingrich's stumble out of the campaign gate -- causing him to lose his top advisors to Rick Perry -- might well be the best thing that has ever happened to his political career. That, along with his debate performances and a handful of other circumstances, explains why the former speaker of the House is now surging in the polls and why it is likely to continue. Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/why_newts_surge_will_continue.html#ixzz1dyBtezhb

Gregory asked Abramoff - who finished a jail stint over a year ago on influence-peddling charges and has been promoting his recently-published book - about the strategic counseling fee of over $1 million that was paid to Newt Gingrich by housing giant Freddie Mac. "What do you make of all that?" Gregory asked. Abramoff replied, "This is exactly what I'm talking about. People who come to Washington who have public service and they cash in on it. And they use their public service and their access to make money, and unfortunatley Newt Gingrich is one of them who have done...

I have been agnostic on the Republican primary so far, but the time for choosing has arrived. For the reasons set forth below, I believe that the primaries will come down to Mitt Romney versus Newt Gingrich. As such, the choice is not between Newt Gingrich and some hypothetical more perfect conservative candidate, as Newt’s most vocal critics would have us believe. I’m supporting Newt Gingrich as the most conservative Republican who is electable and most qualified for the position of President.

So here's the game we're playing this week. GOP primary voters see Romney (26 percent) and Cain (25 percent) as the most likeable Republican contenders. They view Paul (15 percent) and Bachmann (12 percent) as the least likeable. Cain ties with Bachmann as the second least likeable (12 percent), putting him in the unique position of making the top three in both likeable and unlikeable groups.When asked who they would trust most with nuclear weapons, nearly twice as many primary voters say Gingrich than Romney (30 percent and 17 percent respectively). Those voters would least trust Paul (13 percent), Bachmann...

Newt Gingrich joins Mitt Romney at front of GOP 2012 field, as Herman Cain falls back. Newt Gingrich has catapulted to the front of the race for the 2012 Republican nomination while Herman Cain has lost ground with GOP primary voters. Mitt Romney, once again, is holding steady. A Fox News poll released Wednesday shows Gingrich’s support doubling in the last three weeks. He stood at 12 percent in late October -- before the Cain harassment allegations and Rick Perry’s “oops” debate. Now the former House speaker is at 23 percent, essentially tied for the lead with Romney, with 22...

NEW YORK, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is the strongest GOP candidate when matched head to head with President Obama, a McClatchy-Marist Poll indicated. The former U.S. House speaker is just 2 percentage points behind Obama, 47 percent to 45 percent, survey results released Tuesday indicated. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was 4 percentage points behind Obama, 48 percent to 44 percent. Obama polled 49 percent to 41 percent over U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, was favored 49 percent to 39 percent over Georgia businessman Herman Cain and outpolled Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 51 percent...

WASHINGTON -- Newt Gingrich is the strongest Republican candidate when matched head to head against Democratic President Barack Obama, according to a McClatchy-Marist Poll released Tuesday. The former speaker of the House of Representatives is neck and neck with the incumbent president. Obama leads 47 percent to 45 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is next closest, trailing Obama by 4 percentage points. In that matchup, Obama leads 48 percent to 44 percent. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is the third best bet for the Republicans right now, 8 points back from Obama. No other Republican is within single digits...

The former Speaker of the US House and current GOP presidential candidate defended himself Wednesday after news that he received money from the now-troubled government mortgage giant.

He's baaack! Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is back in the saddle after falling off his horse at the starting line. At least according to one poll (Public Policy Polling), Gingrich is actually the GOP front-runner. Many say it's simply Gingrich's turn to be the not-Mitt contender, now that Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain have had their chances. But that's not entirely fair. Gingrich has been relentlessly seducing GOP voters in the debates. Romney may have been winning on points and technicalities, but Gingrich has been consistently winning the crowds. Moreover, he's been deftly using the...

Dear Friend, In this video commentary, I discuss who won Saturday night’s GOP Debate in Spartanburg, South Carolina. A come-from-behind candidate shined!

Republican Presidential Candidate Newt gingrich tells Newsmax that a Gingrich/Herman Cain ticket in 2012 is a 'real possibility'...............

Newt Gingrich is finally moving up in the polls for the GOP nomination. It's interesting to note that, during a National Press Club appearance, the former House speaker spoke critically about the process that ultimately chooses a candidate: "We've invented a system where we've replaced big city machine bosses with consultant bosses. ... The job of the candidate is to raise the money to hire the consultants to do the focus groups to figure out the 30-second answers to be memorized by the candidates. ... Then you combine the stultifying, exhausting, shrinking process with the way these auditions have occurred....

The UN plan referenced by Newt Gingrich is a real threat to private property and US sovereignty.“Agenda 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by every person on Earth…it calls for specific changes in the activities of all people… Effective execution of Agenda 21 will require a profound reorientation of all humans, unlike anything the world has ever experienced… ” - Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet (Earthpress, 1993). Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich stated during a recent campaign event that the United Nations was seeking to create an “extraconstitutional control” over...

He’s baaack! Former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is back in the saddle after falling off his horse at the starting line. At least according to one poll (Public Policy Polling), Gingrich is actually the GOP frontrunner. Many say it’s simply Gingrich’s turn to be the not-Mitt contender, now that Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain have had their chances. But that’s not entirely fair. Gingrich has been relentlessly seducing GOP voters in the debates. Romney may have been winning on points and technicalities, but Gingrich has been consistently winning the crowds. Moreover, he’s been deftly using the...

Speaker Gingrich’s consulting firm, The Gingrich Group, was retained in 2006 by Freddie Mac. To be clear, Speaker Gingrich did no lobbying of any kind, nor did his firm. This was expressly written into the Gingrich Group contracts. Instead, the Gingrich Group was hired to offer strategic advice to Freddie Mac on a number of issues. Speaker Gingrich has always believed that America should have programs to help low income people acquire the ability to buy homes. However, as a conservative, he also believed they have to be within a context of learning how to budget and save which makes...

...Yes, that’s a hell of a lot of baggage. So, what separates Gingrich from Romney? Two elements: first, Gingrich has distanced himself from all of that baggage by apologizing for it. Second, Gingrich’s liberal leanings have all been out of office, while Romney’s liberal leanings were all in office. When Gingrich was actually in a position of power, he was perhaps the most conservative Speaker of the House in American history. The Republican Revolution of 1994 was his baby. Welfare reform was his baby. The booming Clinton economy? That could be more accurately attributed to Gingrich. On foreign policy, Newt...

HH: The Republicans gather to debate in Michigan in about an hour and 15 minutes. Joining them on that stage will be former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. He joins me now. Mr. Speaker, welcome back. I guess you’re doing a town hall meeting tomorrow morning as well at the Westin Hotel at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport for my listeners in Detroit. NG: That’s right. At 8:30 tomorrow morning, we’re going to be at the Westin at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, and we’re going to be talking about jobs and the economy. And then after the town...