Newt Gingrich: The Republican Dark Horse?

In the present scenario, the brokered convention mentioned by Michael is not likely. Barring a miracle, Crazy John McCain will take another big stride next Tuesday toward hijacking the Republican Party. Besides, assuming that the Democratic nominee is chosen in the primaries and caucuses, a GOP nominee picked by a brokered convention would be vulnerable to "smoke-filled room" charges. Newt himself has predicted that the nominee will be one of the current candidates.

Several years ago, Michael left the Republican Party and became an independent. I'm a lifelong Republican, but if the GOP indeed nominates Insane McCain, I'll probably be joining Michael. Thank goodness we'll have choices in November other than the Democratic and Republican nominees.

by Michael Reagan | Newsmax.com | January 24, 2008

Fred Thompson's gone. Duncan Hunter's gone. All these people are gone. Huckabee could become Huckabeen — gone by next Tuesday [Jan. 29]. So could Rudy after next Tuesday's Florida primary. [Huckster-bee is staying in the race to drain votes from Romney and audition to be Crazy John's running mate.]

All of a sudden you've got this Republican primary coming down to McCain, Romney, and Ron Paul. With all this uncertainty, just where can a conservative go? All of a sudden radio talk-show hosts, who reflect the opinions of grassroots conservative voters, are all over the lot, hammering on Rudy, hammering on Romney, hammering on McCain, and hammering on Paul.

Listening to them you get an idea who they want or don't want. They don't like McCain. Most probably they support either Huckabee or Romney. Although they think [correctly] Rudy is gone, he could come back however, if he wins in Florida next Tuesday.

If Huckabee is finished, I think they go to Romney, who is somewhat more conservative than the rest. At any rate, conservatives could be faced with backing either McCain, or Romney, or Huckabee... .

Or they could end up backing none of them.

Who then could conservatives end up backing?

Well, who recently has come out with a new book? Who's doing all the shows talking about his new book? Who is advocating common sense solutions to the most pressing problems America faces?

Newt Gingrich, that's who. He was out of the race for a long time; he toyed with the idea of running until Fred Thompson entered the race; and then he more or less pulled back.

Why Newt? Ask yourself why Ronald Reagan won. He won because he was able to excite a group of people in America that the liberal wing of the Republican Party has never excited – the grassroots.

Newt Gingrich is the last Republican to do that — to reach out to the grassroots, to all those conservative Republicans and Reagan Democrats. Remember, it was Newt who engineered the miraculous Republican take-over of Congress in 1994 — something that was deemed impossible two years after Bill Clinton won the White House.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was out there quietly working the phones and hoping for a wide-open convention where the delegates, and not the primaries that selected many of them, decide for themselves who they want to carry the GOP banner in the presidential election in November.

If Newt throws his hat in the ring, he knows that in the blink of an eye he's got the grassroots behind him.

Look at what happened Saturday in South Carolina. McCain won with 33 percent of the vote, which means 67 percent of the voters said we don't want McCain; only 30 percent said yes to Huckabee, which means that about 70 percent said no to him; 15 percent went for Thompson; a mere 14 percent went for Romney; and 2 percent went for Giuliani.

So basically the voters said a resounding "no" to all of the above.

So who can electrify the base and get them to come out from their bunkers and ignite a groundswell? On the record, the only person capable of doing that is Newt Gingrich.

Covering all the issues that concern the grassroots, Romney represents the Reagan economic approach, McCain, the national security issues, Giuliani represents the hard line on crime position, and Huckabee covers the religious position. Everybody has a piece.

Newt Gingrich covers all of those issues, and in the eyes of the grassroots, he covers them brilliantly. Just as his Contract with America dealt with many of the issues that concerned the grassroots and won Congress for the GOP, his agenda goes right to the heart of our current problems. He's offering concrete solutions to all the concrete problems and that's what the grassroots craves.

As a result, if the nomination gets thrown open in a brokered convention, the person who comes out of the struggle the winner will most likely be Newt Gingrich.

If I'm right, I'll back him to the hilt. If I'm wrong, I'll follow my dad's lead and support the nominee no matter who he is.