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He’s at 50 percent in Florida and nationally, among likely voters, enjoys a 20-point lead on Romney. He’s not blowing smoke here. If he doesn’t stumble this month and Cain drops out, it’s absolutely possible that he’ll run the table in the early states. Unlike in other years, that itself won’t cinch the nomination — Romney’s got the cash and organization to press on, and there’ll be time before Super Tuesday for Newt to cool off — but still. I feel like Pascow in “Pet Sematary,” pleading with Dr. Creed not to let his desperation drive him to something terrible....

Link only, per FR posting rules

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters — which shows Newt Gingrich with a 21-point lead over runner-up Mitt Romney — suggests that Gingrich is uniting the Tea Party and establishment wings of the Republican Party. The poll shows that among likely Republican primary voters who do not consider themselves to be members of the Tea Party, Gingrich is winning by 11 percentage points — 32 to 21 percent (over Romney). Among those who do consider themselves to be members of the Tea Party, he’s winning by 37 points — 47 to 10 percent (over Romney and Herman Cain). Among...

Newt Gingrich said on Wednesday night that his advocacy with state and federal legislators for policies that would help his paying clients was in keeping with his role as a citizen, and was not evidence that he ever acted as a lobbyist. Speaking in an interview with the Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, Mr. Gingrich appeared to be referring to an article in The New York Times on Wednesday detailing how he has made millions of dollars while helping his corporate clients promote themselves to — and gain access to — state and federal officials. He referred to a...

*snip* TAPPER: “How do you respond to Republicans who say if you don’t draw distinctions with Mitt Romney and others who are attacking you, if you don’t point out their perceived vulnerabilities, Barack Obama and the Democrats sure aren’t going to share that same reluctance and you are doing Obama a favor by staying positive?” GINGRICH: “They are not going to be the nominee. I don’t have to go around and point out the inconsistencies of people who are not going to be the nominee. They are not going to be the nominee.” TAPPER: “You are going to be the...

DES MOINES, Iowa — Newt Gingrich continued to shore up his right flank on immigration Thursday, signing a pledge to build a fence along the U.S. – Mexico border by the end of 2013 if he becomes president. The pledge follows comments he made earlier this week in South Carolina that were also intended to ease concerns among conservatives that Mr. Gingrich is not tough enough on immigration. Those concerns surfaced at a the most recent Republican primary debate during which Mr. Gingrich said he would like to find a path to legality for some of the roughly 11 million...

ew GOP presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich, anticipating an attack from fellow contender Mitt Romney, has instructed his campaign staff and advisers not to respond in kind to the former Massachusetts governor, RCP has learned. According to Gingrich campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond, “In response to the dynamics over the last 24 hours about the attacks coming our way, his instructions to us were to not say anything bad about Mitt Romney.” Hammond explained that the campaign has received inquiries about how it will respond to attacks on Gingrich, given the searing Web ad Ron Paul’s operation has released and a reading...

Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., and Michael D. McCurry, co-chairmen of the non-partisan, non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates ("CPD") today announced sites and dates for three presidential and one vice presidential debates during the 2012 general election. The dates and sites are: First presidential debate: Wednesday, October 3 University of Denver, Denver, CO Vice presidential debate: Thursday, October 11 Centre College, Danville, KY Second presidential debate (town meeting format): Tuesday, October 16 Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY Third presidential debate: Monday, October22 Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL ...more at site...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has surged to the largest national lead held by any candidate so far in the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters finds Gingrich on top with 38% of the vote. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is a distant second at 17%. No other candidate reaches double-digits. The national survey of 1,000 Likely Republican Primary Voters was conducted on November 30, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Who would believe that Newt Gingrich holds support amongst Conservatives? His written and orally described stances on issues Conservatives know to be fraudulent would put him in the same boat as Romney. We've all heard the problems with him as a Conservative, his couch talk with Pelosi on Global Warming for the Al Gore website, his affirmative push for mandates in health care, his failures as Speaker, his pro-Fairness Doctrine bill, his immigration stance, and so much more. He is apparently effectively deflecting Conservative criticism better than Romney. Why is that? Though Gingrich has so many negatives, and actually, more...

Mitt Romney’s campaign advisers insist they’re no more scared of Newt Gingrich than the candidates who’ve surged before — but they’re already rolling out a playbook that shows they know the latest alarm isn’t a drill. They know the stakes are higher with five weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses and a challenger who now poses their most substantial threat. They’re preparing a robust, sustained attack that tags the former House speaker as a Washington insider and serial flip-flopper who can’t be trusted with the nation’s economy. And they’re gearing up to have Romney bring the challenge directly —...

I don't have time to write about my reaction, but I would be interested in the perspective of my fellow Freepers. Personally, I thought Newt was VERY impressive, and for a whole hour. I still haven't decided whom to support (not that it matters, since the Massachusetts primary is not going be a game changer anyway). I have been in Cain's camp, but I am reassessing in light of what I perceive as the Cain team's mis-management of the whole sex attack thing. Also, rightly or wrongly, unless Cain manages to win a very sympathetic public vindication in a very...

Results from an American Research Group poll of likely GOP primary voters in Florida: Newt Gingrich (50 percent), Mitt Romney (19 percent), Herman Cain (10 percent), Jon Huntsman (3 percent), Rick Perry and Ron Paul (2 percent), Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Buddy Roemer (1 percent).

Yes, Newt Gingrich is more dangerous to the well-being of the United States, and our people, than Barack Obama. That’s a strong statement, and I intend to prove it! There are many ways to prove this. I’ll use Newt’s actual voting record, as well as his many positions that run counter to what’s best for the Republic. I’ll also talk about his abilities to persuade otherwise intelligent people to follow him into the abyss. You see it’s this ability to take the hard left’s positions, and carefully re-word them, making them sound like “conservative” positions, that makes Newt such a...

BILLINGS - Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich holds a substantial lead in Montana according to a new poll of likely voters. The poll shows the former House Speaker leading Mitt Romney by over 25 points in Montana. The new survey from Public Policy Polling out of North Carolina, shows Gingrich favored by 37-percent of the likely voters surveyed in Montana. Texas Congressman Ron Paul is second with 12-percent, while Romney stands at just 11-percent. Michelle Bachmann is tied with Herman Cain with 10-percent, while RIck Perry, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Santorum all polled only single digits. Public Policy Polling says...

..A few of Newt Gingrich’s… Not-So-Greatest Hits: August 30, 2004: “Now he’s back, preaching the gospel of party moderation. At an Aug. 30 forum held by the centrist Republican Main Street Partnership, Gingrich heralded the GOP’s new, bigger big tent. “Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve argued in favor of electing the moderates,” Gingrich said… He even chastised the fiscally conservative Club for Growth — a group that finances primary challengers to Republican incumbents they deem too liberal — for not getting with the program. “Their strategy is explicitly wrong,” Gingrich said. “The key is to elect more Republicans and have a...

More conventional wisdom that needs dispelling this primary season: The adulterous and thrice-married Newt Gingrich will be unable to attract evangelical voters in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. While it's true that the former House speaker ultimately may fail to achieve the redemption he's seeking from Iowa evangelicals, it is also a fact that he has been quietly building bridges to that important segment of the caucus-going electorate for more than a year now. And, he not only built the bridges, he paid for them. And that could turn out to be Gingrich's greatest secret weapon against his rivals in the...

“Newt’s having his moment, but I think it’s nothing more than that,” said New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, Romney’s national finance co-chairman, who added that he knows and respects Gingrich. Johnson said he is confident in Romney’s strategy and has been impressed by his performance. “Romney has been very restrained and focused really on Obama and the task at hand rather than the other candidates,” he said. The second television ad of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, released on Wednesday, is a stark departure from the first, which was an aggressive, high-octane assault on President Obama. Graphic A interactive look...

On Monday, NewsBusters broke a story about Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake using Twitter to dig up dirt on Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. On Tuesday, the former House Speaker spoke to St. Louis radio host and Big Journalism editor Dana Loesch about this saying, "It’s a little sad to see a paper the quality of the Washington Post stoop to...the National Enquirer approach to life" adding they "would rather worry about rumors about conservatives than facts about the President" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

I'm No Ron Paul supporter but I found this ad right on the mark as far as concerning Newt. You got the GOOD NEWT and then you got the BAD NEWT and then you got US hoping that praying that the RIGHT NEWT shows up at the right time. No one wants Mitt but Newt is a risky wild card and if he's all we got left them we are in big trouble...sigh.