When House speaker Newt Gingrich confided to the Atlanta Journal- Constitution that he may run for president in 2000, the reaction in the political community was, Yeah, right. Now here's the twist: Newt really is making plans to run for the Republican presidential nomination. Really. He's been talking to friends and allies about this for weeks. And his chief political adviser, Joe Gaylord, is said to be fully on board.
The plan calls for Gingrich to hang on as speaker through November 1998, then leave Congress and lay the groundwork for a campaign. Many House Republicans don't want him back as speaker, anyway, and this would give him a graceful way to depart. Besides, Gingrich may have considerable appeal to the GOP faithful as a presidential candidate. Despite his national popularity rating of a meager 30 percent, he's still the best Republican fund-raiser. Private polling of GOP donors shows he's more highly regarded than any other Republican. Gingrich may also have an impressive claim to make if Republicans hold the House next year: I engineered the capture of Congress and held the House through two elections. Not bad. And he's lost 20 pounds. Still, a presidential bid is only being plotted. It's not a done deal yet.