With his surge in polls at the national and state levels, businessman Herman Cain is the focus of political junkies across the nation. But there is another candidate for the Republican presidential nomination who is also starting to gain steam -- former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich stumbled badly when he entered the presidential race, taking shots at the federal budget plan backed by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and congressional Republicans. Several key members of Gingrichs campaign staff defected, complaining that their candidate was not paying enough attention to important early states like Iowa and Nevada. There were complaints that Gingrich was more focused on selling his books and pushing the movies that he and his wife Callista produce.
While the mainstream media and pundits wrote off the former congressional leader, labeling his campaign a disaster, the fact remains that Gingrich is starting to move up in the polls. Gingrich has done a solid job in the debates with the other candidates. Ignoring his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, Gingrich has concentrated his fire on the Democrats and the mainstream media. While the former congressional leader has benefited from not being targeted by any of his primary rivals, Gingrich has scored points by trying to invoke the legacy of former President Ronald Reagan and taking aim at President Barack Obama and other Democrats. For example, in a debate in New Hampshire on Tuesday night,Gingrich called for former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to be imprisoned for drafting the financial regulation law that bears their names. Gingrich clearly knows that debates are his strong suit and has promised, if he gets the nomination, to fight for a series of Lincoln-Douglas style forums with Obama.
Polls are starting to show Gingrich is on the move. While hes not at the top with Cain and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Gingrich is often placing third -- ahead of the likes of Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. A poll released by Rasmussen on Thursday found Gingrich in third place, behind Cain and Romney, but ahead of the rest of the pack. Another national poll from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) released on Wednesday also had Gingrich in third place.
Gingrich is also pulling solid numbers in key states. A poll of Florida Republicans released by the American Research Group (ARG) on Thursday found Gingrich was in third place in the Sunshine State. Another ARG poll released earlier in the week had Gingrich in fourth place in South Carolina, the first state in the South to hold a presidential primary.
While Democrats and independents may be wary of Gingrichs stormy period as the first GOP House speaker in decades and his less-than-stellar marital record, Republicans clearly have a lot of respect for him. While Gingrich placed fifth in a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday night, he was one of the more popular Republican hopefuls, with 49 percent of likely GOP primary hopefuls seeing him as positive and only 23 percent as negative. Gingrichs favorable numbers with Republican primary voters in the PPP poll were also impressive -- 57 percent favorable and 30 percent unfavorable -- the second-best favorable numbers of all the hopefuls behind Cain.
While it is still tough to see Gingrich winning the Republican nomination, despite rumors of his early demise, he has found his stride and remains relevant in the race, especially as the candidates head into more debates. While other candidates and potential candidates -- Donald Trump, Bachmann, Perry -- have risen and fallen, Gingrich has been the only one to crawl his way back up. Hes not going away anytime soon.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
