Gingrich labors in bid to prove comeback in South

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — It was an ominous introduction for Republican Newt Gingrich, whose future as a presidential candidate rests in Mississippi and Alabama.

"I can tell you right now, he's tired. He needs your prayers," former state Sen. Lee Yancey told a half-full Jackson hotel ballroom before the former House speaker took the stage.

Gingrich's aides have said the candidate needs to win Alabama and Mississippi Tuesday to justify staying in the race. He scrapped weekend plans to campaign in Kansas ahead of the Saturday caucuses to stay in the South, his adopted home and the only place he's won in the 2012 campaign.

"I want your help next Tuesday so we can win the Republican nomination," Gingrich flatly told the group, his voice a little rough.

What few in the crowd of about 100 knew is that the night before, Gingrich took some time to enjoy himself. He shed his jacket and tie, sipped some wine and danced with his wife, Callista, in the bar, a carefree respite with staff that ran into the early hours of Thursday.

Gingrich was on time for his 9 a.m. appearance on his first day under Secret Service protection, adding dozens of new faces and a buzz of activity around his events. But the former college professor known for speeches resembling lectures drifted further afield from his usual contrast with President Barack Obama.

Gingrich seemed more focused on amusing his audience than pressing them for their votes.

He paused early in his remarks to comment on the thick accents of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, which drew laughs.

He took his routine mocking of Obama's support for exploring the energy possibilities of algae and limits on drilling — a regular laugh line for Gingrich — further than usual.

And, explaining his interpretation of the Declaration of Independence's "pursuit of happiness" passage, he went for laughs again.

"There's no provision for happiness stamps for the under-happy," Gingrich quipped.

Jackson Republican Bill Wolfson stood in line for a handshake and a picture, planning to vote for Gingrich Tuesday.

But Wolfson doubted Gingrich would win the nomination. "I'm afraid he won't," the retired architect said. "We might get Romney, but he's not going to do the job Newt could."

Despite his liberated air, Gingrich was keeping up a rigorous schedule on Thursday and Friday, with events planned from the far northwest corner of Mississippi to Gulfport on the Gulf Coast before plowing back into Alabama on Saturday.

And later Thursday, in Tupelo, the confidence of earlier in the week, when he predicted another comeback, was creeping back.

"This race has been a roller coaster, up and down. I believe with your help next Tuesday when we win here and we win in Alabama we'll be back up again."

Rival Rick Santorum, who won Tennessee, was also campaigning in the South. The former Pennsylvania senator drew twice the crowd in Jackson that Gingrich did the night before, and Santorum was an hour late.

The day brought another call from a top Santorum supporter for Gingrich to quit the race to help conservatives consolidate behind one candidate — Santorum.

Gary Bauer, a prominent social conservative who has endorsed Santorum, said Gingrich could best help the conservative cause by stepping aside.

"There is great admiration for Newt Gingrich's contributions to conservatism, as well as his debating abilities," Bauer said in a statement. "But the overwhelming sentiment was that he could most help the conservative cause by standing with Santorum so that voters have a clear choice in the remaining primaries."

Although Gingrich is airing television ads promoting his plan to push gas prices down to $2.50, his rivals are more heavily invested. A political action committee supporting Santorum announced Thursday it was spending $600,000 on television ads in Mississippi and Alabama.

Alabama polls show Gingrich trailing Santorum and Romney.

Romney planned to campaign in Mississippi Thursday evening.

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How Slim Are Gingrich and Santorum's Chances of Catching Romney?

We all know that if Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich want to be the Republican presidential nominee, they have to win more states. But they also have to win by large margins, The New York Times' Nate Silver explains, because so many states award delegates proportionally. So while a little gain in Alabama is good news for them, it isn't great. Here's our guide to today's polls and which ones matter.

RELATED: Santorum Wins Tie with Romney in Iowa

Findings: There's essentially a three-way tie in Alabama, with Gingrich with 30 percent of the vote, Santorum with 29 percent, and Romney with 28 percent.
Pollster: Rasmussen
Methodology: Robo-calls to 750 likely Republican voters on March 8.
Why it matters: This poll sharply contradicts one released Thursday by the Alabama Education Association that showed Romney ahead by 10 points in the state, followed by Santorum with 21.6 percent and Gingrich with 21.2 percent. Which should be good news for either of these guys' chances for overtaking Romney, right? Yes. But. It helps to look at Alabama when thinking about how Santorum could come back from Romney's big lead in delegates, given that most of the remaining states award delegates proportionally. As The New York Times' Nate Silver explains, a small win for Santorum in those cases doesn't hurt Romney enough. In Alabama, if the final tally on March 13 is 35 percent for Santorum, followed by Gingrich and Romney tied with about 30 percent, then Santorum gets 21 delegates, while the others get 13 each. But if Santorum wins with 45 percent of the vote to Gingrich's 28 percent and Romney's 19 percent, then Santorum wins 33 delegates to Romney's 1 -- much better. But Silver writes that something pretty huge would have to happen in the race to give Santorum that kind of momentum everywhere. Gingrich, who's only won two states, has even further to go than Santorum.
Caveat: Rasmussen leans right, and there haven't been many polls in Alabama. 

RELATED: Remembering When the GOP Candidates Loved George W. Bush

Findings: Gingrich leads in Mississippi with 35 percent, followed by Romney with 30 percent and Santorum with 20 percent. Mississippi votes March 13.
Pollster: American Research Group
Methodology: Survey of 600 likely Republican voters on March 7 and March 8.
Why it matters: Gingrich's campaign has made it pretty clear he can't go on if he doesn't win the South. His huge lead is party thanks to his popularity among Tea Party supporters, 49 percent of whom say they're voting for him. Santorum is in third place among them with 17 percent, being beaten by Romney, who has 24 percent of Tea Partiers' vote.
Caveat: As explained above, for Santorum or Gingrich to win enough delegates to be the nominee, they have to not just win a lot of states, but crush Romney.

RELATED: GOP Debate: Easy Night for Romney

Findings: 65 percent of adults think the president and Congress can do something to stop gas prices from rising. And 85 percent of Americans think Washington should take immediate action to control gas prices.
Pollster: Gallup
Methodology: Interviews for the tracking poll with about 500 adults on March 5 and March 6.
Why it matters: They are, for the most part, wrong. But it explains why Gingrich -- and Michele Bachmann before him -- is campaigning on a promise to lower gas prices, arguing that gas prices might reach $9 under Obama and that Romney is too rich to understand high gas prices. 
Caveat: This week the national gas price average was $3.79 a gallon. Gallup finds $5.30 a gallon is the point where Americans think they'd have to seriously change their spending habits.

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Newt Gingrich Shakes Up Things With South Carolina Win (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | What a day for South Carolina. Every four years presidential hopefuls try their hardest to win the first in the South primary because every Republican candidate that has gone on to win the White House has won the South Carolina primary initially. If you find yourself in South Carolina during this time you will hear one phrase repeatedly: South Carolina picks presidents.

Armed with an array of television ads, various endorsements and thousands of miles traveled, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul fought for the endorsement and delegates of the Palmetto State. While the candidates strategy included a few jabs at each other, they were unified in the belief that President Barack Obama needed to lose his job and that push would be reaffirmed in a state suffering from a 9.9 percent unemployment rate. In a complete rebuttal of the Republican establishment, Gingrich won the Palmetto State, according to the New York Times.

While pundits and media hosts responded to his win as a surprise, voters contributed Gingrich's win to his debate performance, winability and being the conservative alternative to Romney. What is remarkable is Gingrich won the counties where he was projected to come in second and third -- mainly on the coast. He carried the powerful Evangelical, military and Catholic vote.

Romney's loss is contributed to voters' concerns about Romneycare and his moderate-leaning record. Rick Santorum came in third and Ron Paul at a distant fourth. For Santorum and Paul, their respective placing is not as big of a blow as it is to the Romney camp.

South Carolina's primary has added a new dimension to the candidates campaign. This primary shows there is no clear Republican nominee and that we are in for a long primary season.

In Romney's own words, "This debate is getting even more interesting." Gingrich's win is a forthright message to the GOP establishment. Conservatives aren't happy and the GOP needs to stop bending to the whims of the fringe elite concerning social issues, immigration and fiscal policy.

The Republicans have work to do, but the Obama campaign will now have to work even harder. Instead of having time to prepare for one front-runner candidate, President Barack Obama will have to prepare for two polar opposite candidates. I close with my favorite quote of the night. After the primary Santorum said, "Three states, three winners, what a great country."

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Gingrich steals Romney's cloak of electability as president (Reuters)

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) – Newt Gingrich didn't just beat Mitt Romney in Saturday's South Carolina primary, the former House speaker kicked away one of the main pillars of his rival's election campaign.

Exit polling data shows Gingrich convinced voters he would be the toughest Republican opponent against President Barack Obama in the November general election.

Electability - Republican campaign-speak for a candidate's ability to beat Obama - had been one of Romney's top selling points until Saturday.

Conventional wisdom was that the former Massachusetts governor's emphasis on jobs and the economy and his perceived appeal to independents would help him against Gingrich, who is often seen as erratic and divisive.

But Gingrich's combative style in debates resonated with voters keen for a heavyweight debater to take on Obama, who is grudgingly respected by Republicans as a formidable campaigner.

This may also be helping Gingrich's message on the economy gain traction, exit polling data showed.

South Carolina's Republicans rated the ability to beat Obama as a candidate's most important quality, an exit poll on CNN showed.

Forty-five percent of voters said that was the main attribute they sought in a nominee. Of that group, 51 percent voted for Gingrich compared to 37 percent for Romney.

Twenty-one percent of South Carolina voters said the quality that mattered most to them in their candidate was that he had the right experience.

"It is electability, and that is measured in your ability to effectively debate and prosecute your case against Obama," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak.

Exit polls also showed that for 63 percent of South Carolina voters the most important issue was the economy. Gingrich won this group by a margin of eight percentage points over Romney.

The attraction of Gingrich as an anti-Obama candidate may be the factor that increased his ratings on other issues like the economy, Mackowiak said.

Attacks on Obama in recent weeks, including dubbing him "a foodstamp president," endeared Gingrich to voters in a state with unemployment of almost 10 percent.

OLD TIMER WITH EXPERIENCE

"He is an old timer with a lot of political experience. He's the only one who can beat Obama," said Jim Walters, a retired marine owner in the town of Aiken.

Gingrich slammed Obama as "truly a danger to the country" in his South Carolina victory speech and promised to bring down Obama in a series of long debates.

A master of the sharp turn of phrase who talks in big broad sweeps, the former House speaker was the clear star of the more than 20 Republican debates in recent months.

He left Romney floundering, particularly during two televised contests in South Carolina this week where the millionaire former executive stumbled over questions about his personal finances.

Republican voters in South Carolina, a conservative state with a taste for rough and tumble politics, lapped it up.

"I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that people really want to see Newt debate Obama," Mackowiak said.

"It reminds me of gladiators. You see an amazing gladiator have a string of victories in the middle of the Coliseum so you really want to see him go up against the biggest, baddest gladiator there is."

In a sign that Gingrich's well-documented marital infidelities might have created a problem with female voters, exit polls showed Gingrich held an advantage over Romney of 16 points among men but only 9 points among women.

(Editing by David Storey)

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Gingrich Wins the South Carolina Primary (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | The results were overwhelming for Newt Gingrich in the South Carolina primary, according to the New York Times. The people of South Carolina rallied around the American flag, showing they wanted to take America back to a direction of patriotism that our forefathers once dreamed it could be, not toward a socialized nation like the Europeans have, that just is not America. Gingrich won 40 percent of the votes and Mitt Romney received 27 percent, while Rick Santorum came in third with 17 percent and Ron Paul with 10 percent.

Some in the media said, with an ex-wife coming out against the former speaker, he never stood a chance with women voters. He received a whopping 58 percent in favor when a poll where women were asked if they let a past infidelity change their decision about the former Speaker of the House. Gingrich showed America that he stands for America, and it shows on every face of every American who voted for the man.

Many in the media are also saying Romney stumbled when he was flip-flopping on his tax issues. When asked when he will release his tax statement for 2010, he said he did not know or he will or he won't. People are suspect when they think someone has something to hide. All politicians should be an open book or else, they will fall by the wayside fast.

The people of South Carolina have spoken. Many said they did not care about problems that happened with candidates years ago, they are concerned with now. The voters polled at various precincts were not concerned with domestic rhetoric with politicians personal lives or financial concerns, but were concerned with the direction of this country.

The voter turnout was higher than 2008 by at least 100,000 votes, which is a wonderful thing. It shows Americans are doing their civic duty and using their rights as Americans. The feeling this time was a patriotic one by most of the voters.

The amount of cheering and flag waving I have seen is addictive as patriotism is alive and well in the South. It is off to the Sunshine State in 10 days to see who comes out ahead. We have a long way to go in this, but the infectious pride of being American is spreading thanks to the final four.

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Analysis: Gingrich forces GOP into grueling debate (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took a giant step Saturday toward becoming the Republican alternative to Mitt Romney that tea partyers and social conservatives have been seeking for months.

Gingrich's come-from-behind win in the South Carolina primary snatches away the quick and easy way for the GOP to pick its presidential nominee. Only days ago, it seemed that party activists would settle for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who stirs few passions but who has the looks, money, experience and discipline to make a solid case against President Barack Obama in November.

Now, the party cannot avoid a wrenching and perhaps lengthy nomination fight. It can cast its lot with the establishment's cool embodiment of competence, forged in corporate board rooms, or with the anger-venting champion of in-your-face conservatism and grandiose ideas.

It's soul-searching time for Republicans. It might not be pretty.

Romney still might win the nomination, of course. He carries several advantages into Florida and beyond, and party insiders still consider him the front-runner. And it's conceivable that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum can battle back and take the anti-Romney title from Gingrich. After all, he bested Gingrich in Iowa and New Hampshire.

But Santorum's third-place finish in South Carolina will doubtlessly prompt some conservative leaders to urge him to step aside and back Gingrich, as Texas Gov. Rick Perry did Thursday.

Even if Santorum revives his campaign in Florida, the fundamental intraparty debate will be the same. Voters associate Gingrich and Santorum with social issues such as abortion, and with unyielding fealty to conservative ideals. That's in contrast to Romney's flexibility and past embraces of legalized abortion, gun control and gay rights.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul will stay in the race, but he factors only tangentially in such discussions. His fans are largely a mix of libertarians, isolationists and pacifists, many of whom will abandon the GOP nominee if it's not the Texas congressman.

Strategically, Romney maintains a big edge in money and organization. He faces a dilemma, however. Gingrich resuscitated his struggling campaign in this state with combative debate performances featuring near-contempt for Obama and the news media. Romney likely would love to choke off that supply by drastically reducing the number of debates.

Ducking Gingrich after losing to him in South Carolina would suggest panic or fear, however, and all four candidates are scheduled to debate Monday in Florida.

Gingrich is benefitting "from the inherent animosity and mistrust GOP primary voters have with mainstream media," said Republican strategist Terry Holt. "Their first instinct is to rebel, and that's what they did. The question is whether he can sustain that anger and build it into a legitimate challenge to the frontrunner."

Gingrich tried to stoke that anger with his victory speech Saturday. He referred repeatedly to "elites" in Washington and New York who don't understand or care about working-class Americans. He decried "the growing anti-religious bigotry of our elites."

Gingrich made $3.1 million in 2010, but he nonetheless is tapping middle-class resentment in ways reminiscent of Sarah Palin. "I articulate the deepest-held values in the American people," he said.

Despite their contrasting personalities, Romney and Gingrich don't differ greatly on policy. Both call for lower taxes, less regulation, ending "Obamacare" and a robust military. They promise to cut spending and increase jobs without offering many details of how they would do so in a divided nation and Congress.

Romney vs. Gingrich in some ways mirrors the Democrats' 2008 choice between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, which turned mostly on questions of personality, style and biography. The Republicans' choice, however, will plumb deeper veins of emotion and ideology.

Romney appeals to Republicans who want a competent, even-tempered nominee with a track record in business and finance. His backers are willing to overlook his past support of abortion rights and his seeming tone-deafness on money matters — even if it feeds caricatures of him as a tycoon.

Until Saturday, GOP polls had shown Romney easily ahead on the question of who would be Obama's toughest challenger. South Carolina exit polls, however, showed Gingrich with an edge among those who said it was most important that their candidate be able to beat Obama.

Romney will try to regain that advantage in Florida, which votes Jan. 31. It's not clear what strategies will work. In his concession speech Saturday, Romney said Obama has attacked free enterprise and "we cannot defeat that president with a candidate who has joined that very assault on free enterprise."

He was alluding to Gingrich's past criticisms of Romney's record running Bain Capital, a private equity firm. But Gingrich and a friendly super PAC dropped their references to Bain days ago.

Romney hinted at another approach. "Our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business and never led a state," he said. Gingrich's background didn't seem to bother South Carolina's Republicans, however.

What they've done is steer the primary contest into more emotional, and possibly dangerous, waters. They rewarded a candidate who gave voice to their resentment of the news media, federal bureaucrats and what they see as undeserving welfare recipients and a socialist-leaning president.

Two South Carolina debate moments crystalized Gingrich's rise. Both involved an open disdain for journalists, whether feigned or not.

In Myrtle Beach on Monday, the Martin Luther King holiday, Gingrich acidly told Fox News' Juan Williams that he would teach poor people how to find jobs, and that Obama has put more Americans on food stamps than any other president. Gingrich repeated the food stamp lines in his speech Saturday night.

At Thursday's debate in North Charleston, Gingrich excoriated CNN's John King for raising an ex-wife's claim that Gingrich once asked for an "open marriage," to accommodate his mistress.

Conservatives inside the hall and out seemed to love the tongue-lashing. The details of Marianne Gingrich's allegations, which Gingrich denied almost as an afterthought, seemed to matter much less to voters. That's remarkable in a state whose GOP electorate is nearly two-thirds evangelicals.

Mike McKenna, a Republican strategist, said Gingrich seems to be drawing many people, including tea party activists, who are fairly new to politics. They don't know or care much about Gingrich's legacy of leading the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress, or his subsequently lucrative career as a writer and speaker that sometimes veered from conservative orthodoxies, McKenna said.

Instead, he thinks these voters are reacting emotionally to someone they hope "can take the fight to the president, to the media, to whomever. They are not particularly concerned about what kind of president he will be."

Therein, of course, is the potential peril of a Gingrich candidacy. Along with his verbal fireworks he carries baggage that might give Democrats more to exploit than do Romney's policy flip-flops and record at Bain.

Gingrich's impressive South Carolina victory will force Republicans in Florida and other states to make a hot-or-cool choice.

They can pick the data-driven Harvard MBA grad who smoothed out the Winter Olympics and now runs a by-the-numbers nationwide campaign. Or they can pick the pugnacious firebrand who didn't manage to get his name on the Virginia primary ballot but who wows an angry electorate that can't wait to lay into Obama in debates next fall.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Charles Babington covers politics for The Associated Press.

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In a Surprising Twist, Gingrich Wins South Carolina Primary (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Leading up to the South Carolina primary, Mitt Romney seemed to be the front-runner. That is until the debate on Thursday. There was a mixed reaction of South Carolina voters about Romney's personal wealth and his taxes. Romney plans to release some of his tax returns but has yet to disclose what years and how far back he will be disclosing. Two-thirds of South Carolina voters said Mitt Romney's personal background will have no dealings on how they voted, according to ABC News.

Newt Gingrich seemed to be a long shot going into Saturday's primary; however, he came out ahead. Early exit polls had put Gingrich in the range of 30 percent to 35 percent, with Romney second. The Washington Post says Gingrich finished with 40.4 percent to Romney's 27.9 percent.

South Carolina has picked the Republican nominee with its primary every presidential election since 1980. This was a crucial race for all contenders in the race. This made the South Carolina primary important to all potential nominees. There will be many more primaries and caucuses over the next several months. The winner of the nomination will go on to compete against sitting President Barack Obama.

This election the biggest issue on the table with the candidates for the Republican nomination is the economy. This issue will be a large issue in November when voters cast their final vote for the next president.

Gingrich's win in South Carolina means voters have chosen a different candidate in every primary so far. Romney won the New Hampshire primary and it appeared he had won the Iowa caucus, but after a recount shows former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum took Iowa.

The nomination still could be anyone's. Because South Carolina has chosen the winner of the nomination at each of its primary's since 1980 does not necessarily mean Gingrich will win the nomination. This could be history in the making that South Carolina will break its trend and not have chosen the winner of the nomination at its primary.

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Gingrich confident of staying in race after NH (AP)

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says he hopes to finish in the "top three or four" in the New Hampshire primary and go on to confront front-runner Mitt Romney in South Carolina.

With voting under way, Gingrich tells Fox News Channels "Fox & Friends" he believes "the biggest story today" is that Romney will fall short of "any reasonable expectation" in New Hampshire, particularly since the former Massachusetts governor has been heavily favored there all along.

Gingrich says people expected the state to be Romney's for the asking, but adds, "I don't think it's going to be much of a fortress."

Gingrich also says he believes a controversial statement Romney made about firing people was likely "taken out of context" and he isn't going to press the issue. The former speaker did say he didn't think the remark was "well-worded."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Newt Gingrich said he expects Mitt Romney to win Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. But with Romney's support slipping, the former House speaker argued that the race could end up being "wide-open."

Gingrich is preparing a blitz of television appearances and 11th-hour campaign stops Tuesday as he tries to whip up enthusiasm for his White House bid, following a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa. The former House speaker will visit polling places in Manchester, Bedford, Merrimack and Hollis.

Gingrich has used New Hampshire as a staging ground to launch more aggressive attacks on Romney, labeling the GOP front-runner timid and assailing his time at the helm of Bain Capital. The most successful elections, Gingrich argues, are those in which the contrast between the candidates is wide.

"I really do believe a Reagan conservative has a better chance of defeating (Democratic President Barack) Obama than a Massachussetts moderate," Gingrich said late Monday at a town hall at a high school in Hudson that drew some 500 people.

"I think you need a very clear, sharp distinction," he continued.

He's been stressing an economic message to cut taxes, slash regulations and promote an American-based energy policy. And he's even weighed in on some local issues, calling for better health care options for the state's veterans and speaking out against plans to place some 180 miles of electric transmission lines above ground in scenic areas in northern New Hampshire.

But even before New Hampshire voters cast a single ballot, Gingrich already was eyeing South Carolina, considered a critical state for the former Georgia congressman.

He's been fine-tuning his message, keying in on gun rights, veterans issues and abortion, which could prove pivotal in the nation's first Southern primary.

___

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Will the new Newt Gingrich have staying power? (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – During his quick ride to the top of voter surveys, Newt Gingrich has cast himself as the more conservative alternative to a flip-flopping Mitt Romney, the other leading Republican candidate for president.

But the rise of Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, is drawing increased attention to the fact that his own views - on issues including healthcare, the environment and medical marijuana - haven't always been in line with those of most conservative Republicans.

The inconsistencies have raised questions about Gingrich's true beliefs, as well as his staying power as the conservative of the moment in the Republican campaign. They also have given his opponents a significant target for their criticisms.

Before running for president, Gingrich said the U.S. government should require people to buy health insurance or face penalties. Now Gingrich, who did not respond to requests to comment for this story, says that such a mandate is "unconstitutional."

Gingrich's stance on the environment also has taken a turn to the right. Before his campaign, he said the United States should step up its efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. In 2008, he appeared with Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who at the time was speaker of the House, in a TV ad to support a global-warming awareness campaign headed by former Vice President Al Gore.

Today, Gingrich has distanced himself from the idea that the government should try to help curb global warming. He has said the 2008 video with Pelosi was "probably the dumbest thing I've done in recent years."

'TERRIBLE IDEA'

Gingrich's position also has evolved on another provocative issue: whether the federal government should endorse the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

As a member of Congress in 1981, Gingrich co-sponsored a failed bill with liberal Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank that was aimed at legalizing medical marijuana nationwide. Gingrich now says medical marijuana is a "terrible idea."

Taken together, Gingrich's policy switches have helped him attract the support of conservative Republicans who often dominate the party's nomination process. In national polls Gingrich now leads Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who is trying to win over conservatives who are skeptical of his own moves to the right on health care and other issues.

Romney and another Republican presidential candidate, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, are beginning to target Gingrich over his position changes. Romney is preparing an effort to brand Gingrich as a flip-flopper, and Paul released a Web ad on November 30 accusing Gingrich of "serial hypocrisy."

If such messages begin to resonate with Republican voters, Gingrich's efforts to get in line with conservative orthodoxy could wind up undermining his appeal to voters who are unsettled by Romney's policy shifts, a former Gingrich aide said.

"As more and more of these flip-flops come to light, it will tend to blur the problems that a lot of conservatives have with Romney," said Rich Galen, a Republican strategist who is staying neutral in the 2012 nominating contest.

Some analysts caution that although Gingrich's rebranding has served him well to this point, he could end up being a poor fit with the strain of conservatism that is dominant in the Republican Party today.

The party's conservative base is more interested in shrinking government than simply making it work more effectively, said Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. Improving government's efficiency has been a constant theme for Gingrich, 68, since his political career began in the 1970s.

"I don't understand how he's the conservative alternative now," Tanner said. "I can understand why people are looking for one, but if I was looking at that field I would say, 'Newt?' "

AN ACTIVE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Many of the positions Gingrich is moving away from are recorded in a stream of books and policy papers he has issued since leaving Congress in 1999.

Gingrich's work has tackled goals such as protecting the environment and improving healthcare from a free-market perspective.

In a 2007 book, "A Contract with the Earth," Gingrich and co-author Terry Maple argue that businesses and local governments often are better positioned to respond to environmental problems than the federal government.

But the book also outlines an active role for the federal government, calling for expanded tax breaks for wind power and hybrid cars, new international efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, and a solar-research project on the scale of the World War II-era effort that yielded the atomic bomb.

"As we recognize the scientific evidence that the Earth is experiencing a warming trend over the past 100 years and that this trend may have serious consequences for the future, we favor reducing carbon loading in the atmosphere as a bold forward step and a positive public value," Gingrich and Maple wrote.

"To be a global leader, America will have to be proactive and persuasive on a massive scale," they write later in the book.

During a mild-mannered debate with Democratic Senator John Kerry in 2007, Gingrich said the United States should "move toward the most effective possible steps to reduce carbon loading of the atmosphere ... and do it urgently."

Gingrich also backed the idea of tax credits to reduce carbon emissions during an interview with The Washington Times on January 19, 2009.

Gingrich now says the government should not try to tackle global warming, a position that appears more reflective of Republican conservatives' push to limit government regulation.

"I don't think it should be a priority (for government) at all right now except for research," he said on November 16 on The Mark Levin Show, a conservative radio program. "We have no proof that justifies a large-scale government program that distorts the economy and centralizes power in bureaucrats."

Maple, his former collaborator, said Gingrich has not changed his environmental views but is not emphasizing them as he courts Republican primary voters. As president, Gingrich would make environmental protection a top priority, he said.

"You're going to see somebody who's going to change priorities and I'm going to be confident that the environment will be one of those priorities," said Maple, who said he talks with Gingrich regularly.

"He's going to go into this primary season with the priorities that the party is interested in right now," Maple added. "It's not him, it's everybody else. It's such a strongly united party against big government."

A NEW STANCE ON HEALTH CARE

Gingrich has also recalibrated his stance on healthcare.

As recently as May 15, Gingrich said he backed the idea of a universal mandate -- the idea that individuals must buy health insurance to keep the system solvent. That notion is a central element of President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul that was enacted last year, and the Massachusetts healthcare law that Romney signed as the state's governor in 2006.

Gingrich backed an insurance mandate even as other Republicans pushed court challenges against Obama's national plan on the grounds that the insurance mandate is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has agreed to review challenges to the law from 26 states next year.

"I've said consistently we ought to have some requirement that you either have health insurance or you post a bond or in some way you indicate you're going to be held accountable," Gingrich said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on May 15.

Gingrich renounced that position during a debate in June, and has since said that he backed an insurance mandate because it was put forward as a conservative alternative to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton's proposed healthcare reform in the 1990s.

Gingrich has contrasted his change of heart with Romney's continued support for the idea.

"I concluded I was wrong," Gingrich says on Fox News last month. "Why hasn't he concluded that he was wrong?"

Gingrich has similarly changed his mind on whether Congress should allow medical marijuana nationwide. Currently, 16 states and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing marijuana use for medicinal purposes.

"It is a drug," Gingrich said in 2009, in response to a question about whether Florida should join the states allowing medical marijuana. "It is currently illegal. It should remain illegal."

(Additional reporting by Sam Youngman; editing by David Lindsey and Cynthia Osterman)

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SC primary up for grabs, Gingrich making big play (AP)

By PHILIP ELLIOTT and JIM DAVENPORT, Associated Press Philip Elliott And Jim Davenport, Associated Press – Mon Dec 5, 3:33 am ET

NEWBERRY, S.C. – For three decades, the Republican who won South Carolina's presidential primary has also won the GOP nomination.

That record helps explain why Newt Gingrich, a self-described lover of history, is working more aggressively than any of his competitors to organize activists and volunteers ahead of the Jan. 21 primary, essentially pinning his candidacy on a state filled with Christian conservatives.

His chief rival, Mitt Romney, is approaching South Carolina tentatively. He invested huge sums in the state in the 2008 presidential race only to bail just days before the vote when it became clear he would lose big to Arizona Sen. John McCain. Many voters couldn't overlook their skepticism of Romney's Mormon faith and his reversals on some cultural issues.

The others in the 2012 race are treating South Carolina as an afterthought while they bank their candidacies on one of the two states that vote first, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Enter Gingrich, who's enjoying a burst of momentum after a summer campaign meltdown.

"I do believe South Carolina will be the decisive primary," the former House speaker from Georgia told Republicans who packed a theater in Newberry last week. "If we win here, I believe I will be the nominee."

But victory in the state won't come easy for the thrice-married Gingrich.

He has acknowledged having an extramarital affair, an issue that may turn off Christian conservatives who hold great sway in South Carolina. Gingrich, a recent convert to Catholicism, frequently makes a point of talking about his close partnership with third wife Callista.

He has advocated a "humane" approach to immigration that would let longtime residents work toward citizenship. Critics have labeled that as "amnesty" for millions of foreigners who are illegally in the United States, and that's another potent issue in the state.

Winning in South Carolina would be even more difficult if he were to come in with a 0-2 record, losing in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

Perhaps for all those reasons, if not in spite of them, Gingrich is building the largest presidential organization in the state. He's sinking more into South Carolina than he has in any other early voting state as he seeks to capitalize on his rebound after a troubled campaign start when virtually his entire staff quit.

He has opened five offices and hired nine people, the most of any of the Republicans.

In early nominating states like South Carolina, Gingrich's campaign was meeting with former aides and advisers to Herman Cain, who dropped out of the GOP race Saturday. While Cain's endorsement remains up for grabs, Gingrich and his rivals were looking to schedule one-on-one meetings this week with the former pizza executive.

South Carolina voters are starting to notice Gingrich, and at least some like what they see.

Virginia Coker of Hartsville attended a town hall-style meeting Wednesday night at the Newberry Opera House that doubled as a fundraiser for the state party. She was hardly a fan before Gingrich took the stage and answered more than a dozen questions from the party faithful. She left a convert.

"He's going to be the nominee," Coker predicted.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor in his second presidential bid, is working quietly to build an organization in the state. He hasn't visited much and has only three paid workers in South Carolina. But Romney has done the groundwork for a campaign that could quickly be up and running if he chooses to compete in the state. Unlike Gingrich, Romney has millions in the bank to start airing television ads that could affect the race.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas are the only candidates who have aired television ads in the state, though that was expected to change in the coming weeks.

GOP activists have yet to fall in line behind a single candidate, giving hope to candidates languishing at the back of the pack, such as Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

Bachmann has a lean operation and is keeping much of her focus on Iowa. She could tap into a network of evangelical Christians, if she performs well in Iowa first.

To some, Santorum appears to be the candidate most likely to engineer a surprise.

"Crisis pregnancy centers are strongly behind Senator Santorum," said Karen Floyd, a former South Carolina GOP chairwoman, noting this powerful and wide network of anti-abortion voters who show up on Election Day.

Alexia Newman, who runs a Spartanburg pregnancy center, has been rounding up Santorum support for months because of his strong conservative positions on social issues, even though the economy is taking center stage in the race.

"There's really only one or two candidates really bringing up the debate," Newman said.

Still, the hurdles are high for those candidates.

Consider that conservative Christians who talk kindly of Santorum also finish their sentences with doubt about his ability to capture the nomination.

"There's probably as much of a chance of the Rapture happening by election time as there is for Rick to win the nomination," said Harry Kibler an activist who runs RINO Hunt, a group that criticizes "Republicans in Name Only."

As for Gingrich, the next two months will tell whether he can overcome his hurdles — and make history himself.

___

Davenport reported from Columbia.

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Gingrich leads in Iowa poll (AP)

WASHINGTON – Newt Gingrich has taken the lead in a poll of Republican voters in Iowa, followed by Ron Paul and Mitt Romney.

Former House Speaker Gingrich received support from 25 percent of likely voters in the leadoff Iowa caucus, while Texas congressman Paul had 18 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had 16 percent in the Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll released Saturday.

Gingrich's support stood at just 7 percent in the most recent Iowa Poll, conducted in late October. Businessman Herman Cain, who suspended his campaign today amid claims of sexual misconduct, was at 8 percent in the latest poll, down from 23 percent in October. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was also at 8 percent.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania were at 6 percent each, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman was at 2 percent.

The new poll of 401 likely Republican caucusgoers has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

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Is Newt Gingrich the Man to Beat or Just Another Flavor of the Week? (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | The 2012 cycle to find the next GOP nominee for the presidency has resulted in a seemingly endless parade of front-running hopefuls backed by conservatives from the "Anybody but Mitt" Romney crowd. Now it looks like the next golden ticket is a candidate we thought had been dispensed, after irregularities in his charity's financial practices and a major shakeup in his campaign staff, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

But is Gingrich the real deal for Republicans? Or just another flavor of the week, hoping to unseat the party's "steady-as-she-goes" candidate, Romney?

According to the Huffington Post, people who served with Gingrich in Congress in 1994 think he can win the nomination, and so do I.

Gingrich is regarded by many, including Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., as a man "without a moral core," but that seems like a match made in heaven for a party whose morality doesn't sink in beyond the crust.

Having led at a national level, Gingrich, who has been in politics for most of his life, was regarded early in the race as a Washington establishment sort, representing the values of old Washington. But for many Republicans prone to nostalgia, that's not such a bad thing. In fact, life was pretty good for a number of years as a result of the deals forged between the president and Congress elected in 1994.

Democrats might regard Bill Clinton as the hero of that era, but Republicans will no doubt stand by their man Gingrich, who in the darkest days of budget negotiations, when the government had shut down, held the president in check and worked to negotiate a deal instead of political clout.

Gingrich is a different sort of candidate. He doesn't badmouth his fellow Republicans. He seems to rise above the fray, choosing to sell his ideas as valuable and acting as if his opponents aren't enemies but friends. The result is that instead of looking like a boxer, Gingrich comes off like a priest, as if he's not trying to beat anyone but just trying to help his country.

Some are settled and will never believe him, but at least for the moment, Gingrich is running the most market-friendly campaign in the race.

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Impersonator mocks Obama, Gingrich at GOP forum (AP)

NEW ORLEANS – A Barack Obama impersonator was ushered off the stage after he mocked the Republican presidential hopefuls and joked about the real president's biracial roots to a room full of conservative activists Saturday.

The Republican Leadership Conference turned the podium over to impersonator Reggie Brown, who drew raucous applause from the GOP's supporters when he projected lewd photos of Rep. Anthony Weiner, the New York Democrat who just resigned after the furor over his sexually charged online dalliances with a former porn actress and other women.

Brown later played up the mass exodus of advisers to candidate Newt Gingrich's campaign and said Gingrich's supporters "are dropping faster than Anthony Weiner's pants."

The audience grew more uncomfortable when Brown turned to the candidates who are looking to make Obama a one-term president.

The impersonator took a shot at former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, saying Pawlenty missed the conference because "he's having his foot surgically removed from his mouth."

"Don't worry: it's covered under Obamneycare ... along with spinal transplants," Brown said.

Pawlenty has struggled this week after previewing his criticism of former Gov. Mitt Romney's health care overhaul in Massachusetts that was a model for Democrats' national plan. Pawlenty first called it "Obamneycare," a hybrid of "Romneycare" and "Obamacare." But when given the opportunity to use the term while sharing the stage with Romney during a debate Monday night in New Hampshire, he balked.

Pawlenty later said it was a mistake not to offer a stronger criticism.

The impersonator joked about Romney's Mormon faith and about polygamy, and Rep. Michele Bachmann's tea party support.

Organizers then cut off Brown's microphone and turned on music. He was shown off the stage.

The jokes came a day after Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour urged Republicans not to be distracted from a message honed solely on jobs and the economy.

"If we let people in the Obama campaign take America's eye off the ball, then that's their only chance to win," Barbour said.

Brown opened his routine with jokes about Obama's biography as the son of a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya.

"My mother loved a black man and, no, she was not a Kardashian," the actor said, referring to the reality television family. Khloe Kardashian is married to basketball player Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers. Other family members have had black romantic interests on the E! television series.

Brown also joked about rumors of the president's birthplace. Obama was born in Hawaii, "or as the tea partyers call it, Kenya," he said.

Brown highlighted photographs of past presidents such as George W. Bush at the beginning and end of their terms.

He showed a picture of George Washington at the start of his term and then projected an image of former first lady Barbara Bush as though it was the nation's first president as he left office.

Brown then projected a picture of Obama at the start of his term, followed by a picture of Fred Sanford of "Sanford and Son" as a representation of what Obama would look like when he leaves office.

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Gingrich wife under scrutiny in campaign upheaval (AP)

ATLANTA – Callista Gingrich has been a near constant presence at her husband's side, a visible symbol that the twice-divorced House speaker is now a devoted family man.

But Gingrich's third wife also is being cited by people close to him as a key factor in the staff revolt that has left his presidential campaign on life support.

At least 16 aides and advisers abandoned the Gingrich campaign on Thursday, an unprecedented exodus that has cast doubt on his viability as a contender for the Republican presidential nomination. Gingrich has pledged to push forward with his campaign and is set to offer a foreign policy address to a Jewish Republican group in Los Angeles on Sunday. It's a speech that Gingrich hopes will reset his White House bid, and it's a near certainty that his wife will accompany him.

In the implosion's aftermath, officials close to the Gingrich campaign privately pointed fingers at Callista Gingrich as the source of the tension between her husband and his staff. They say she exerted enormous influence on the former House speaker, controlling his schedule and encouraging him to disappear on a luxury cruise in the Greek Isles just weeks after he got into the race. That trip was the final straw, for some, who pleaded with him not to go.

These officials said Gingrich ceded to his wife's wishes, which sometimes involved his curtailing necessary time on the campaign trail in key states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private campaign business.

As criticism mounted, the candidate defended his wife's involvement, saying that the two of them "make decisions as a couple."

"I think most couples would find that refreshing and not a problem," he said outside his home in McLean, Va., an upscale Washington suburb.

In fact, it may have been no different from other campaigns; friction between political spouses and paid campaign staff is common, with both competing for the candidate's attention.

But several people involved in the campaign said Callista Gingrich was not the only problem.

Since Gingrich entered the race this spring, fundraising has been anemic and the combative former congressman has strayed off message repeatedly, most memorably in his NBC "Meet the Press" interview just days after entering the race in which he bashed a Republican budget plan that had passed the House as "right-wing social engineering."

But Gingrich sometimes seemed more interested in placating his wife than serious campaigning. And Callista Gingrich's iron-fisted control over her husband's calendar made planning nearly impossible. Gingrich would sometimes be late to meetings with donors because his wife needed some time at a hotel to freshen up. He would try to book trips so he could be home in time for his wife's choir practice.

Admirable in a husband. But perhaps incompatible with the grueling schedule needed of a serious presidential candidate.

"Yes, Newt is guilty of putting family ahead of politics," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said.

From the start, Gingrich put his wife front and center in the campaign, answering questions with "Callista and I" and featuring her picture prominently on his website. To a certain degree, it seemed an attempt to prove to social conservatives and other Republicans skeptical of him for his adulterous past. Gingrich, 67, has acknowledged he carried on an affair with Callista when he was speaker of the House and she worked at the House Agriculture Committee.

But, even if she did help bolster an image of Gingrich as a family man, she was linked with distractions early in the campaign. It was jewelry Gingrich bought for his wife that spurred days of bad press coverage focused on a no-interest line of credit worth up to $500,000, reinforcing the image that he was out-of-touch with regular Americans smarting from the recession.

Exacting and precise, Callista Gingrich, 45, is a slender concert pianist who sings in the choir of her Catholic church. She has a signature look: ramrod straight posture, elegant clothes, tight smile and flawlessly coiffed blond hair.

Since they married, the Gingriches have modeled their marriage on the partnership of Ronald and Nancy Reagan: a partnership.

They produce political documentaries together and screening those movies before tea party organizations and other groups has become a key part of Gingrich's presidential effort, a quixotic strategy some aides believe should be scrapped in favor of more on traditional grass-roots events.

Still, the couple seems intent on having a partnership of equals.

So much so that when they when they shoot a documentary they will go back into the editing booth and reshoot if one spouse has more lines than the other.

___

Online:

Newt Gingrich: http://www.newtexplore2012.com

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