Newt Gingrich

Let's roll the tape.

There are many ways Republicans can lose control of the House and Senate in November. But there’s only one way they stand a good chance to hold both chambers. It’s to run on the tax cuts.

Newt Gingrich defended President Trump against allegations that Trump's firing of James Comey was a crime. Gingrich's legal interpretation: "the president cannot obstruct justice." I'm not a lawyer, but neither is Newt Gingrich (he holds a Ph.D. in European history), and if I can google some legal…

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller should be allowed to proceed in his investigation of Russia's election meddling, and said he'd advise President Trump not to fire him, a step some of Trump's close allies have said he is considering.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich repeatedly ripped the media for what he said was ongoing unfair coverage of President-elect Donald Trump, calling certain news outlets "propaganda" and some members of the media "idiots."

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich lauded Donald Trump's chosen department chiefs as "what may be the smartest cabinet of modern times" Tuesday morning, hours after news broke of the president-elect's selection of Rex Tillerson for secretary of state.

Tuesday night Newt Gingrich went on Brit Hume's new show on Fox News. Gingrich is a fascinating interview because, whatever his eccentricities, he's a visionary and one of the major figures of the last century of American politics. If you want to see full-bore Gingrich, go and take in his long…

Paul Nehlen, the primary challenger to House speaker Paul Ryan, said this week that he wants to begin a debate about deporting every Muslim from the United States.

One of the finalists to be Donald Trump's running mate is now calling the GOP nominee for president "unacceptable".

Chuck Todd and Hallie Jackson of NBC News report that allies of Donald Trump are planning a "candidate intervention" to convince the Republican nominee for president that his campaign needs an overhaul.

Cleveland

The Drudge siren is blaring that Mike Pence is Trump's VP pick. I'm not sure I believe it, though, for a couple reasons.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Donald Trump was in search of an "attack dog" as his running mate. As far as job descriptions go, that's akin to an accounting firm recruiting people who are "good with numbers"—it's obvious, and it's a prerequisite of the job. What's newsy is the…

House speaker Paul Ryan, Senator Marco Rubio, and other leading Republicans spoke in unusually frank terms about race Friday, following a string of fatal confrontations involving black men and law enforcement that have claimed seven lives this week.

Newt Gingrich, a long-time free trader in Congress and champion of the North American Free Trade Agreement, said Friday that there's something "profoundly wrong" with U.S. trade policy, lending his support to Donald Trump's position on the issue.

It was easy to mock Alvin Toffler when he was riding high in the saddle, back in the 1970s. A self-described "futurist" (precise job description still TBD), he was part Jeremiah and part Arthur C. Clarke, warning us all about the dizzy pace of technological change even as he got giddy describing…

On Monday, Newt Gingrich called Donald Trump's notorious retweet insulting Heidi Cruz's appearance "utterly stupid," and talked about how "one of the dumbest weeks in presidential politics that I can remember" distracts people from Hillary Clinton's scandals.

Donald Trump's campaign didn't give the public much to chew on when it was announced he would host a meeting of Republican lawmakers and notables in the nation's capital. But one participant did say it ended up being a "pretty good" lunch.

The latest epside of Converstions With Bill Kristol, featuring Newt Gingrich:

Newt Gingrich spoke with Bill Kristol about the 2016 presidential race, Donald Trump, and Ben Carson:

"The United States is losing the war with radical Islamists," Newt Gingrich told a group of conservatives at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines. 

As the new Congress settles in under Republican control, it can be easy to forget that Republican control of the House of Representatives is a relatively novel concept. Until Newt Gingrich's revolution swept the party into power in 1994, the GOP was accustomed to permanent-minority status.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich appears on the latest episode of Conversations With Bill Kristol:

Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, warned that President Obama is the greatest threat fo freedom since George III. Gingrich, also a former history professor, made the comparison on Twitter.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich recently spoke at the American Enterprise Institute about a new way to think about caring for America's veterans. Gingrich argues the federal bureaucracy that has failed in the case of the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital scandal can be replaced with…

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told radio host Laura Ingraham Tuesday that if President Barack Obama proceeds to amnesty thousands of illegal immigrants through executive order, Republicans should make the case against such a move the party's "number one" campaign issue for the 2014 midterm…

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich talked about gun control this morning on CBS:

On Sunday's political talk shows, several Republicans criticized the Obama administration's response to the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Here's Senator John McCain of Arizona on CBS's Face the Nation:

On ABC News's This Week, former House speaker Newt Gingrich suggested the White House's response to the Benghazi terrorist attack will continue to hurt Barack Obama's reelection campaign.

Maggie Haberman relates Newt Gingrich's advice for Mitt Romney:

Here are the prepared remarks of Newt and Callista Gingrich, which will be delivered together after the Ronald Reagan tribute at the Republican convention: 

The Miami Herald reports on a suspicious mailer that seems to be tied to Marco Rubio ally David Rivera:

Newt Gingrich issued a warning, based on the destructive storms that hit the Washington, D.C. area over the weekend, on Twitter: 

Newt Gingrich is using Rick Santorum's announcement that the former Pennsylvania senator is suspending his presidential campaign to make a last ditch effort at becoming the Republican nominee--by drawing a contrast with front runner Mitt Romney.

Rick Santorum is leading in his home state of Pennsylvania, according to a new Quinnipiac poll:

Politico reports: 

Bret Stephens: "Peter Beinart’s False Prophecy: The Crisis of Zionism, his book arguing that the Israeli occupation alienates young American Jews, is sloppy with facts and emotionally contrived."

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is committed to staying in the race, the former speaker of the House told CBS this morning:

With the Alabama and Mississippi primaries now complete, and with the Hawaii caucuses counted, more than half of the states (accounting for 41 percent of the delegates) are now in the books in the Republican presidential race. Through these first 26 states, Mitt Romney has won 52.7 percent (496 of…

With 45 of 45 precincts reporting, Mitt Romney has won the Republican caucuses in Hawaii. Romney received 45 percent of the vote, Rick Santorum 25 percent, Ron Paul 18 percent, and Newt Gingrich 11 percent.

Rick Santorum won two surprise victories last night in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, and he did so by poaching voters from Newt Gingrich’s coalition. To appreciate this, let’s take a look at some data.

Today is a relatively big day in the GOP nomination battle -- with caucuses in American Samoa and Hawaii and primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. The main story is in the South, though. And although this Southern Super Tuesday has relatively few delegates at stake – just 84 are up for grabs…

Two new post-Super Tuesday polls show Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum running neck-and-neck for the lead in the Republican presidential race. An ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Romney leading Santorum by 4 points (33 to 29 percent), while a CBS News/New York Times poll shows Santorum leading…

PPP reports on its latest poll of Republican voters in Mississippi:

On Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney won six of the ten contests, a majority of delegates allocated, and more security in his march to victory at the Republican convention in Tampa. The Romney campaign not only claimed victory Tuesday night, they've since argued that winning the nomination is "an…

Rasmussen reports on its latest Alabama presidential primary poll of likely Republican voters:

Are conservatives ready to coalesce around a presidential candidate? A new poll commissioned by the Committee for Work Families PAC finds that a vast majority of grassroots conservatives want the Republican party to unite around one particular candidate: Rick Santorum.

As the polls begin to close on Super Tuesday, Fox News immediately projects that former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has won the Georgia Republican presidential primary. Fox's projection is based on exit polling.

Ricochet: "Newt Explains the Facts to David Gregory"

Kim Strassel had an excellent piece in Friday’s Wall Street Journal about another issue — in addition to Obamacare — that President Obama has gift-wrapped for the Republican party and for the wider cause of limited government.  She writes,

National Journal reports that a fundraiser for Mitt Romney, Christopher Jenny, is inviting donors opposed to "social arch conservative" Rick Santorum to a reception in support of a "Massachusetts moderate" for president:

The New York Times reports that the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, is spending almost $500,000 on new television ads in Michigan. The ads will focus on Romney's GOP rival Newt Gingrich, even though Rick Santorum looks to be a bigger threat to Romney in Michigan's February 28…

The results are in from the CPAC straw poll: Mitt Romney has won. Here's the tally:

Yesterday I pointed out that "February 7 could prove to have been Super Tuesday if it turns out to be a key inflection point in the campaign."  Two indications, I wrote, of such an inflection point would be "if Santorum now passes Newt Gingrich in national Republican surveys" and if he "continues…

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll of national Republicans suggests a continuing lack of consensus in the GOP primary more than a month after the Iowa caucuses. Mitt Romney earned 29 percent support among Republicans polled, leading Ron Paul with 21 percent. Newt Gingrich received 19 percent of support, and…

To the Republicans of the states of Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado:

The Hill: "Dick Armey: Gingrich campaign turned into 'first-rate vendetta' against Romney"

A few days ago, after the last presidential debate in South Carolina, I was gauging the reaction of some Real People, as opposed to the Fake People who populate my seedy little racket. I don’t talk to Real People often if I can help it, as they tend to confuse the emerging media narrative with…

Jacksonville, Fla.

Rasmussen's latest tracking poll finds Rick Santorum faring better than Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney against Obama:

A new poll from PPP shows Mitt Romney with a commanding lead heading into Saturday's caucuses in Nevada. Romney has 50 percent support there, according to the poll of likely caucusgoers. His numbers double those of Newt Gingrich, who only receives 25 percent support, with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum…

Newt Gingrich was hardly a perfect speaker of the House, but he did not resign in “disgrace” as has been repeatedly claimed by Mitt Romney. I say this as a former member of Congress who was part of both the “coup attempt” against him and the subsequent successful effort to remove him as speaker…

Rasmussen’s latest polling of likely voters shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum by slender and nearly identical margins. Obama leads Romney by 1 point (46 to 45 percent) and Santorum by 2 points (46 to 44 percent).  The President also leads Newt Gingrich by 8 points (49 to…

Real Clear Politics: "Dem Congressman: West 'Not Representative Of African-American Community'"

In Missouri, where the next Republican primary will take place (next Tuesday), a new poll by PPP shows Rick Santorum leading Mitt Romney by 11 percentage points — 45 to 34 percent — while Ron Paul has 13 percent support.  Newt Gingrich isn’t on the ballot in Missouri, so the Show Me State offers a…

Phil Klein: " Romney aces Florida test"

Mitt Romney won a decisive victory last night in Florida, carrying 46 percent of the vote. Let’s take a close look at how he did it.

Here’s how many votes the respective Republican presidential candidates got in Florida for every $1,000 that they or their super PACs spent on TV advertising in the state (according to ad figures published by the Washington Post as of Friday): 

I wonder if three features of the race as it stands today aren't being a bit neglected:

Mitt Romney’s challenges aren’t over yet. Sorry to say that after his impressive defeat of Newt Gingrich in the Florida presidential primary. He’s improved as a candidate, but he needs to get better before facing President Obama (assuming he captures the GOP nomination).

Orlando, Fla.

Just seconds after polls closed in the western Panhandle, Fox News, ABC News, CNN, CBS News, NBC News, and others projected that Mitt Romney is the winner of the Florida primary. According to the New York Times, with 47 percent of precincts reporting, Romney currently leads Newt Gingrich in the…

Washington Examiner: "Holder's fantastical claim about 'Fast and Furious'"

Via GOP12, here's a Newt Gingrich robocall going out to Floridians:

Yesterday, Newt Gingrich did not answer questions regarding his past support for an individual health insurance mandate, as a recently discovered audio clip recorded in May 2009 showed. Here's what Gingrich said then:

BuzzFeed: "Not President Obama's Most Empathetic Moment"

Tampa, Fla.

The blog Verum Serum has dug up a clip of a May 2009 Newt Gingrich conference call that followed a White House press conference on health care reform. (You can listen to the whole call here.) Gingrich said he was "little bit skeptical but encouraged" by the approach President Obama was taking. He…

Suffolk reports on its latest poll of likely Republican voters in Florida: 

Mitt Romney and his allies have spent over $15 million on paid media ads in Florida, $12 million more than what was spent on behalf of Newt Gingrich. Politico reports:

Jeb Bush’s decision not to endorse Mitt Romney before Tuesday primary raises three possibilities about the former Florida governor’s role in the 2012 presidential election.       

Two weeks ago, a top adviser to Newt Gingrich told me that his candidate would stay in the Republican race through the convention, regardless of the outcome in South Carolina. Gingrich reiterated those plans in comments to reporters over the weekend.

Buzzfeed: "Romney, Eyeing Blowout, Keeps Foot To Newt's Neck"

The Villages, Fla.

Politico reports, "Picking up where he left off during the debate, Rick Santorum said Friday that Mitt Romney’s health care record is 'a big, big liability' and 'something to get mad about.'"

Former presidential candidate Herman Cain made a surprise appearance at a Lincoln Day dinner in West Palm Beach Saturday night to endorse Newt Gingrich.

Jonah Goldberg: "Obama’s Vision for a Spartan America"

Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Mitt Romney is back to talking about firing people.  During last night’s debate, he responded to Newt Gingrich’s proposal that America establish a lunar colony by the end of the decade by saying that if someone presented him with that proposal, “I’d say, ‘You’re fired.’”  While one might think…

During last night’s debate, Mitt Romney responded to Newt Gingrich’s proposal that America establish a lunar colony by the end of the decade by saying that if someone presented him with that proposal, “I’d say, ‘You’re fired.’” While one might think Romney justified in firing someone who pitched…

Between Sunday and Wednesday, Newt Gingrich went from leading Mitt Romney by 8 points to trailing Mitt Romney by 8 points in the Florida GOP primary polls. Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville was Gingrich's best opportunity--and most likely his only--ahead of Tuesday's primary to reverse…

While tonight’s Republican debate in Florida featured contentious exchanges over health care, immigration, Freddie Mac, and other topics, there was at least one subject that did not elicit barbs and harsh words—Israel. The question posed to the candidates was by a self-identified Republican…

Mitt Romney has been attacking Newt Gingrich for alleged ethics violations during his tenure as speaker of the House.  But as Byron York writes, the Gingrich ethics scandal was a product of vindictive partisan politics, it was inflamed by a complicit press corps, and it resulted (with little press…

A new Rasmussen poll of Florida primary voters shows Mitt Romney maintaining an 8-point lead over Newt Gingrich, 39 percent to 31 percent. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, both of whom have effectively pulled out of the Sunshine State, are polling at 12 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Here's more…

First Read: "Santorum hints at leaving FL before Tuesday primary"

In his last work, The Responsible Electorate (1966), the great scholar V.O. Key argued against the thinking of political scientists of his age that the mass public was too ill-informed to make wise decisions:           

Cocoa, Fla.

For the first time since the New Year, Newt Gingrich has pulled ahead of Mitt Romney in Gallup’s national polling. In the most recent 5-day poll — from January 20-24 (straddling the South Carolina primary) — Gingrich leads Romney by 3 percentage points: 31 to 28 percent. Ten days earlier (January…

Joel Kotkin: "The Last Patrician: Romney Falls From Favor as America Loses Faith in Old Money"

There's one mention of Newt Gingrich in The Reagan Diaries. It's in Chapter 3, which covers 1983. Page 123 in the book:

Writing at National Review Online, Elliott Abrams explains Newt Gingrich’s Ronald Reagan problem:

Naples, Fla.

Sarasota, Fla.

St. Petersburg, Fla.

In an interesting portion of last night’s Republican presidential debate, moderator Brian Williams asked, “Governor Romney…what have you done to further the cause of conservatism as a Republican leader?” Romney replied, 

Tampa, Fla.

After two combative debates in South Carolina that helped change the trajectory of the Republican race, the first of two debates in Florida was relatively low key and seems unlikely to change anything. With good answers and very good luck, Mitt Romney recovered after a tough week that had two…

If any exchange will be talked about from tonight's Republican debate, it will likely be this one, between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich on Freddie Mac, consulting fees, and lobbying:

I’ve got to think Monday night’s debate further swelled the groundswell of support for Mitch Daniels. The liveliest part of the debate was at the beginning, when Mitt went after Newt—and Republicans all over America watched with fascinated horror at the thought that these are the two GOP…

On Sean Hannity's Fox News show this evening, former senator Fred Thompson endorsed Newt Gingrich for president. "I have come to the growing realization that Newt Gingrich is the guy who can articulate what America is all about," Thompson told Hannity. Thompson himself briefly ran for president in…

Last Monday, Gallup’s national 5-day polling (taken from January 11-15) showed Mitt Romney leading his nearest competitors in the Republican presidential field (Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum) by a colossal 23 percentage points — 37 to 14 percent. Just seven days later, Romney’s lead over Gingrich…

The latest Gallup polling shows Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney each trailing President Obama by exactly the same tally — 50 to 48 percent. Across the months, Gallup has shown a slow decline in Romney’s level of support versus Obama: Romney led Obama by 2 percentage points in September, was tied in…

In response to charges from Mitt Romney that the former House speaker 'lobbied' for Freddie Mac, Newt Gingrich campaign surrogate J.C. Watts, a former congressman from Oklahoma, argued that his work as a 'consultant' to the mortgage giant actually makes Gingrich a better candidate for president.

From Rasmussen's latest poll of Florida:

Saturday’s South Carolina primary featured a number of firsts:

A new poll from Florida conduced by InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research finds 34.4 percent of Republican voters going for Newt Gingrich and 25.6 percent for Mitt Romney. Ron Paul has support from 13.1 percent, while Rick Santorum gets 10.7 percent.

Newt Gingrich won a decisive victory in South Carolina tonight, defeating Mitt Romney by more than 10 points, after having been down by 10 points just a week ago.

Columbia, S.C.

Newt Gingrich has not yet delivered his victory speech tonight in South Carolina, but he has delivered a strong message to his rivals via Twitter. "Thank you South Carolina! Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida," Gingrich tweeted. "Join our Moneybomb and donate now."

As the polls close in South Carolina tonight, NBC News is able to project that Newt Gingrich will be the winner of the Republican primary in the first Southern state to vote. 

Tax rates were cut, regulations were rolled back, but the part of Ronald Reagan’s original economic agenda that never got off the ground was re-establishing a dollar as good as gold. This was partly because Paul Volcker was so successful a Fed chairman that fundamental monetary reform came to seem…

Orangeburg, S.C.

In an interview with radio host Laura Ingraham this morning, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney acknowledged that Newt Gingrich is likely going to win a few states over the course of the primary process.

North Charleston, S.C.

In a pinch, Newt Gingrich resorts to his specialty: attacking the media. He did it again Thursday night in the Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, South Carolina. And the audience responded enthusiastically to his angry denunciation of CNN moderator John King for making his former…

Newt Gingrich just now released his 2010 federal income tax return. According to the summary his campaign provided, "Speaker and Mrs. Gingrich owed federal taxes of $994,708 on an adjusted gross income of $3,142,066.  $613,517 of the tax amount owed had been previously withheld or otherwise paid,…

The latest Rasmussen poll from South Carolina shows a 16-point swing between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich over the span of two days.  In Rasmussen’s polling taken on Monday, before the most recent GOP presidential debate, Romney led Gingrich by 14 percentage points — 35 to 21 percent.  Rasmussen’s…

Beaufort, S.C.

ABC's Brian Ross writes:

CNN reports that "Rick Perry is telling supporters that he will drop his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday."

Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd, Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd. --William Congreve It's a line Newt Gingrich probably had in mind this morning when he spoke with the Today Show:

A new online ad from Newt Gingrich reminds voters of what the three principals from the 2008 South Carolina primary--John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Fred Thompson--had to say about Mitt Romney at the time. Watch below:

An Insider Advantage poll taken in South Carolina on Wednesday — two days after the most recent Republican presidential debate — shows that Newt Gingrich has erased a double-digit deficit to take the lead over Mitt Romney.  Gingrich now has 32 percent support, up 11 percentage points from his tally…

Warrenville, S.C.

The boss, who’s something of a gold standard enthusiast, is excited: Newt Gingrich called this morning for a Gold Commission, like the one Ronald Reagan set up in 1981, to consider how to get back to hard money (and perhaps to gold). Here’s video of Gingrich speaking in Columbia, S.C., at a foreign…

Last night, referring to the Republican presidential race, Sean Hannity asked Sarah Palin, “You haven’t given an endorsement.  Are you gettin’ any closer to giving an endorsement?” The former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate replied: 

Three days before the South Carolina Republican primary, the press corps is poised to declare the GOP race over. If Mitt Romney follows up his wins in Iowa and New Hampshire with a win in the South, the media will tell Republicans in the other 47 states that there’s no need for them to cast votes…

Florence, S.C.

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The most obvious thing to say about Monday night’s debate is that it was better than almost all the previous ones, in part because there were fewer participants. We’ll get one more five-person debate on Thursday, then Rick Perry will most likely withdraw after Saturday’s primary—so we'll have…

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Newt Gingrich has told voters in South Carolina not to vote for Rick Santorum because Santorum can’t defeat either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. In particular, Gingrich made an appeal to conservatives: “If you're a conservative, just look at the polls. I am the only candidate capable of stopping a…

The New York Times reports that national conservative Christian leaders are waiting until after the South Carolina primary on January 21 to coalesce around a "not-Romney" Republican candidate. Those leaders are meeting in Texas this weekend to discuss the race. Here's more from the Times:

Duncan, S.C.

Newt Gingrich unveiled today what has to be one of the sillier ads of the campaign, accusing Mitt Romney of—quelle horreur!—speaking French:

A new poll of South Carolina primary voters, the latest from PPP, shows Mitt Romney with a lead over Newt Gingrich, 29 percent to 24 percent. Ron Paul just edges out Rick Santorum for third place there, with 15 percent and 14 percent support, respectively.

The Hill: "Poll: Romney slipping in South Carolina, holds just two-point lead over Gingrich"

Kevin WIlliamson: "Obama: Incompetent or Evil?"

For those who might have missed it, Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren interviewed Newt Gingrich last night and asked whether he was “backing down” on his “attack on Bain capital.” Gingrich replied: 

Columbia, S.C.

Nate Silver: "Romney Looks Strong in South Carolina and Beyond"

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich released the following ad today, targeting his rival Mitt Romney on his record on abortion:

Rush Limbaugh compares Newt Gingrich's attacks on Mitt Romney with Ross Perot's destructive assault on George H.W. Bush in 1992. It's a thought-provoking comparison.

Associated Press: "Romney sweeps NH to cement top status; Paul second"

Mitt Romney’s victory in New Hampshire was every bit as significant as it appeared. History is now on Romney’s side: Every candidate who has won the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary has captured his party’s presidential nomination.

There’s a lot of silliness on all sides of the Bain Capital debate.

A national CBS News poll taken after Iowa and released today shows that no one in the Republican presidential field has the support of even 20 percent of GOP primary voters. The poll shows Mitt Romney leading with 19 percent support, followed relatively closely by Newt Gingrich (15 percent), and…

Derry, N.H.

USA Today reports that "A 'super PAC' backing Newt Gingrich will try to portray Mitt Romney as a greedy corporate raider with $3.4 million in radio and TV ads running in South Carolina starting Wednesday. The huge ad campaign by Winning Our Future plays off a movie, King of Bain: When Mitt Romney…

Washington Times: Tony Blankley, 1948-2012

Remember that "pious baloney" Newt Gingrich accused Mitt Romney of serving up at this morning's Republican presidential debate? Well, just a couple hours after that memorable debate moment, Romney told a New Hampshire crowd: "There were a couple of times I wondered if I was going to get a pink…

Manchester, N.H.

Concord, N.H.

Concord, N.H.

The Republican candidates did a pretty good job of making their cases tonight, given that they were dealing with questioners whose combination of bias and silliness was stunning, even by mainstream media standards.

A new poll from PPP of South Carolina Republican primary voters shows Mitt Romney with a seven-point lead over Newt Gingrich. Romney has 30 percent support of likely primary voters, compared with 23 percent for Gingrich and 19 percent for Rick Santorum. PPP also found that Romney's most dangerous…

Manchester, N.H.

Radio host Laura Ingraham asked Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum about a possible alliance between himself and fellow candidate Newt Gingrich.

Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman both went up with their first television advertisements in New Hampshire on Thursday, just days before the primary on January 10. The Gingrich ad is a continuation of the former House speaker's big push to depict rival Mitt Romney as insufficiently conservative for…

Rasmussen reports on its latest national poll: 

Laconia, N.H.

Austin Ameican Statesman: "Perry stays in presidential race, says it 'wasn't a hard decision'"

James Pethokoukis: "January Surprise: Is Obama preparing a trillion-dollar, mass refinancing of mortgages?"

Yesterday, I posed five questions about the Iowa caucuses, and the answers are now in. Mitt Romney set a new all-time record for the lowest winning share of the vote (for either party) in the Iowa caucuses — 25 percent — one point lower than Bob Dole’s 26 percent level of support in 1996. That’s…

Manchester, N.H.

The first Gallup poll released in the New Year — covering the period from December 26 through January 2 — shows Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich practically tied with 24 and 23 percent support, respectively, among registered Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Ron Paul is all alone in third…

From a partial transcript of CBS's Early Show this morning (via Mike Allen): 

On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Newt Gingrich lowered the boom on Mitt Romney in an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan. Gingrich criticized his GOP rival as a "Massachusetts moderate" while touting himself as a "Southern conservative." Asked if he ought to be responding more aggressively to attacks…

With Newt Gingrich now coming in fourth in Iowa polls, the former speaker of the House is playing down expectations before tomorrow's caucuses. "I don't think I'm going to win," Gingrich reportedly told the press. "If you look at the numbers, that volume of negativity has done enough damage. But on…

A new survey of Iowa Republicans from GOP firm InsiderAdvantage shows a close, tough race the day before the Iowa caucuses. National front-runner Mitt Romney has a miniscule lead at 22.7 percent over Ron Paul at 22.4 percent. Rick Santorum, who is surging in many recent polls in the Hawkeye State,…

It’s an article of faith among many Republicans that Mitt Romney is the most electable candidate in the GOP field. But it’s not clear that this assertion is actually true. In fact, if one were going to design a Republican opponent tailor-made to President Obama’s liking, that opponent would be…

SaintPetersBlog: "Latest Florida poll: Mitt Romney 27%, Newt Gingrich 26%; no one else in double digits"

Mitt Romney leads Newt Gingrich by just 2 percentage points (26 to 24 percent) in Gallup’s most recent national polling (which extends through yesterday). That’s well within the 4-point margin of error.  Ron Paul is a distant third, with 11 percent support, while all other GOP candidates are in…

Politico: "Mitt calls Newt ballot fail 'more Lucille Ball' than Pearl Harbor"

The latest CNN poll of Iowa and New Hampshire Republicans show Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, in the lead in both states. The New Hampshire poll confirms Romney's long-held advantage over his GOP opponents at 44 percent, 9 points up from a similar poll conducted by CNN earlier…

Dyersville, Iowa

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that a Newt Gingrich newsletter from April 2006, the month that Mitt Romney signed the Massachusetts health care bill into law, praised Romneycare. "The most exciting development of the past few weeks is what has been happening up in Massachusetts," read…

In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Tuesday afternoon, Newt Gingrich unloaded on Ron Paul's extreme foreign policy views and the conspiracy theories, racism, and anti-Semitism in Paul's newsletter. Asked if he could vote for Paul if he were the GOP nominee, Gingrich initially says, "No." But…

Newt Gingrich has released a 30-second ad that will air on television in Iowa starting on Wednesday. The ad focuses on his jobs plan and reminds Iowa Republicans of Gingrich's strong debate performances this past fall. Watch the video below:

In 2006, Newt Gingrich's Center for Health Transformation published a "Newt Note" on Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care plan. "The most exciting development of the past few weeks is what has been happening up in Massachusetts," the note began. "The health bill that Governor Romney signed into…

A new poll of New Hampshire primary voters show Mitt Romney in a solid position nearly two weeks out from the “first in the nation” primary on January 10. A Boston Globe survey of 538 likely GOP primary voters released yesterday shows Romney with 39 percent support in New Hampshire. Newt Gingrich…

Sioux City, Iowa

National Journal: "House Republicans Agree To Payroll Deal"

In the Washington Post, George Will writes that Newt Gingrich’s “campaign against courts repudiates contemporary conservatism’s core commitment to limited government.”

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich blasted Mitt Romney this morning because of ads a super PAC that supports the former Massachusetts governor is running in Iowa.

The latest Gallup poll of registered voters, conducted late last week and over the weekend, shows Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney trailing President Obama by identical tallies — 50 to 48 percent. Gallup interestingly writes that it “finds a slight improvement in Gingrich’s standing versus Obama, but…

Plaistow, N.H.

Mitt Romney had a strong performance Thursday night in the final debate before the January 3 Iowa caucuses. From Medicare reform to foreign policy to the economy, Romney provided mostly succinct answers within the mainstream of Republican ideas. And because he did not spend much time engaging his…

1. I thought Newt Gingrich did not do well. Not just when he defended his (essentially indefensible) work at Freddie Mac, but also when he cited FDR as a model for how he would handle the court. Terrible argument, one that any self-proclaimed constitutional conservative should be concerned about.