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.

GOP Needs Unity

On the morning of the second televised debate I come to all of you with a message that has been repeated by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.  This is the case for the sects of the Republican Party coming together for the sake of winning elections.  We must find the happy medium between the Tea Party's frustration and running candidates too conservative for their constituency (i.e. Joe Miller in Alaska and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware) and the moderate wing of the Republican Party.

We must remember the words of William Buckley: "Nominate the most conservative candidate who can win" and Ronald Reagan "The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor."


These words were seemingly forgotten when former House Majority Leader Dick Armey stated that the Tea Party would stay home if former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination.  


When must remember we are a party, a unified organization at the end of the day.  We believe in a certain set of ideals and practices in Law and Government.  Some believe in these principles on a much more hard line base than others.  That does not make those with a more moderate stance Liberals, it makes them Centrists.  
The 2012 election will be too crucial to allow for Republican/Conservative voters to sit on their hands and not go out on election day.  The fate of our newly won House of Representatives, our chance to win the Senate, and the opportunity of the White House depend on it.  We cannot afford to stay at home because the candidate is not conservative enough.  

 A candidate who will vote your ideology 60-80% of the time is far better than one who votes 5-15% of the time with your ideology is it not?  At the end of the day all factions of the center-right movement must recognize this.  


William Buckley was correct when he stated we must run the most conservative candidate that can win.  Winning is the objective of any election.  We just have to make sure we run the best candidate in the fields of ideology and region.  Jim DeMint probably couldn't take a Senate race in Minnesota the way Olympia Snowe probably could not win a race in Alabama.  


It's about region and ideology.  It's about finding a candidate that can compete in the Heartland, Bible Belt, and coast-to-coast.  


Defeating President Obama in 2012 will be an uphill battle as it stands.  We do not need a splintering of the vote, the creation of another right-of-center party, or eligible voters staying home.  


Do we really want to let loose four more years of Progressive Liberal policies on the United States for the sake of "purity?"  Ask yourself that question if you are considering staying home in 2012.  This is the future of the country we are discussing here.  Everyone has a vested interest.  Everyone should be voting.  

This is why we must all come together. 

The GOP has Michael Jordan Syndrome

We all get caught up in greatness.  It is here for brief shining moments and it is gone just as suddenly as it had appeared.  These are the people who change the game and make all of us take note.  

In the National Basketball Association this was done by Chicago Bulls forward Michael Jordan.  Everyone who loves basketball has seen footage of “Air Jordan” leaping from the free throw line, hanging in the air for what seemed like minutes, and hitting big shots late in crucial games.  Jordan left the game viewed as the greatest player to ever pick up a basketball.  After leaving the game commentators have been looking for the next Michael Jordan.  This label has made the likes of Kobe Bryant, Penny Hardaway, LeBron James, and now Derrick Rose have been compared to him at the prime moment in their careers and they have all fallen short.  No one can truly fill the void of greatness.

Just as a young Michael Jordan was starting his career at the University of North Carolina the Republican Party was on the path to greatness as well.  The elder statesman Ronald Reagan was inaugurated in the same year as Jordan began his career at UNC.  President Reagan to many Republicans/Conservatives is the greatest president of the modern era.  He brought down Soviet Communism, he brought America back to greatness, and brought Americans together under his presidency.  Many pundits on television are trying to crown the next Ronald Reagan or describing candidates as Reagan-like.  These are unrealistic and unfair comparisons.  It puts  unrealistic pressures on the candidates to live up to his moniker.  

You cannot replicate excellence or greatness to believe so is foolish.  

Pundits and politicos must recognize that it is time to create the next hero.  We cannot continue to press unrealistic comparisons on candidates.  The pressure and expectations can derail a candidate or put unneeded pressure in our general election season of 2012 and beyond.  We cannot continue to look to the past for how a candidate should be when we have many of our own superstars in this age that bring their own special set of skills to the table can perform at a great level.  

Great is not excellence but excellence happens so rarely that we are forced to take notice and wish it would come back.  Excellence is going to occur again with or without these questions.  We just have to wait patiently.