Newt Gingrich Surging To Front Likely to Stay

The steady methodical march of Newt Gingrich has placed him squarely in third place according to the Real Clear Politics average of national polls. Speaker Gingrich has climbed from the single digits into contention following the burnouts of flavors of the month, Representative Michele Bachmann, Governor Rick Perry, and now potentially businessman Herman Cain.

Newt has managed all this without going negative. Strictly adhering to President Reagan's 11th Commandment. He has gone after the media and the moderators for setting up the GOP candidates for in-fighting in an effort to expose weaknesses and allow for easier attack ads to be made by President Obama and the left-wing media machine.

The rise of Newt Gingrich can be attributed to his strong repeat debate performances. Myself and others have consistently viewed Speaker Gingrich as the most intelligent and solutions-oriented candidate on the stage. His climb has been steady and has not exploded to the front of the race only to fade into the darkness as Rep. Bachmann and Gov. Perry have done. He has not been brought to front-runner status by the falling of another individual to be the "anti-Romney" candidate as Herman Cain ascended.

Newt is not the "anti-Romney" candidate he is the Newt Gingrich candidate. He has built a campaign on being himself not from being a different human being than Mitt Romney. That is where other candidates have gone wrong. They have wanted to be seen as someone who is not Mitt Romney rather than themselves. This is the reason why other candidates have faded and Speaker Gingrich will not. There are three fields of people in this race for the GOP Nomination: Mitt Romney, the "anti-Romneys," and Newt Gingrich.

Newt appears to be holding the best hand coming down the stretch. There used to be three men at the high-rollers table: Governor Romney, Herman Cain, and Newt. I understand many conservatives and Republicans are standing behind Cain through these troubles as they view him being "Thomas'd" (If someone can invent being Bork'd I can invent Thomasing). Cain may be looking at a slight readjustment in his poll numbers leaving more voters for Newt to gain.

The final thing working in Newt's favor is that he has demanded the President meet him for Lincoln-Douglas style debates. Having seen "The Professor" Newt Gingrich debate at every single televised debate there is no way that President Obama can hang with Speaker Gingrich for three hours. The Republican primary voters are coming around to Speaker Gingrich where they may have found a permanent home.