Newt Gingrich tells Georgia Republicans he’ll be a candidate in ‘12
In the last 24 hours, former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich has touched base with several prominent Republicans in his former home state, telling them that he intends to make a run for president in 2012 using Georgia as his base – and that he already has his eye on office space in Buckhead for a campaign headquarters.
Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich
Gingrich met on Thursday with Nathan Deal, whom Gingrich endorsed during a critical phase of last year’s Republican primary for governor.
House Speaker David Ralston introduced Gingrich Thursday night at a downtown Atlanta affair hosted by the Paulding County Chamber of Commerce.
The visits and conversations – some face-to-face, others on the phone — appear to be an attempt by Gingrich to revive his old campaign network and lock down as much support as possible in a state won by Republican Mike Huckabee in the 2008 presidential primary.
A spokeswoman for Johnny Isakson said Gingrich called the U.S. senator earlier this month – adding that Gingrich was not definite about his plans in that conversation. In an interview on Friday, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss said he had not talked to Gingrich yet, but that the former U.S. House speaker had asked for an appointment in the near future. “He said, ‘I need a significant amount of your time,’” Chambliss said.
Gingrich, 67, is registered to vote in Virginia, and has a Virginia driver’s license. But he spent most of his adult life in Georgia, and from 1979 until 1999 — the last three years as speaker — Gingrich was a congressman from metro Atlanta.
Gingrich most recent visit here was clearly an attempt to lock down as much support as possible in a state won by Republican Mike Huckabee in the 2008 presidential primary. In a meeting with reporters, Gingrich emphasized his Georgia roots.
“My offices are here. My grandchildren are here. I’m here regularly,” Gingrich said at a Thursday news conference at his Center for Health Transformation in suburban Atlanta. “I helped create the modern Republican Party in Georgia starting in 1960. I have a certain fondness for being back in Atlanta.”
Perhaps more important, fundraising for Gingrich’s American Solutions organization is conducted out of Atlanta.
However, Rick Tyler, a spokesman for Gingrich, contacted Friday, said the former House speaker’s schedule for deciding on a 2012 presidential run had not changed. “His plans are to decide on whether to create an exploratory committee in late February, and make a decision about his candidacy in March,” Tyler said.
But Tyler said that Atlanta shouldn’t be ruled out as a headquarters – should Gingrich join the presidential contest.
For Gingrich, the key question is whether or not he can recreate an enthusiastic political base in Georgia more than a decade after he left it. There is no guarantee. Take, for instance, Saxby Chambliss. In a session with reporters, the U.S. senator said:
“Newt is my friend. He’s been a mentor, in some respects, since he was speaker when I got elected [to Congress].”
“But it’s a different world right now, and we’ve got to make sure that whoever the nominee is , that he can win in November. That’s the goal of every Republican right now. John Thune[, the U.S. senator from South Dakota,] is a very close friend. He’s talked to me about his potential campaign.
“I’m going to keep my powder dry.”
While Chambliss said he would pay good money to watch a debate between Gingrich and President Barack Obama, and has several strong points — his communication skills, and his familiarity with both fiscal issues and health care. But Chambliss has questions about Gingrich’s viability:
“Newt hasn’t said this to me, but he’s obviously aware of all the negative aspects of the campaign. And I’d be curious to hear from him why he thinks he can win in spite of that.
“In presidential campaigns now, you have to do something in Iowa. You may not have to win Iowa, but you’ve got to make a good showing in Iowa. Then you’ve either got to win or make a good showing in New Hampshire – if you don’t win Iowa.
Then if you don’t win New Hampshire or Iowa, you’ve got to win South Carolina. Can Newt do that?”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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577 comments Add your comment
Team O'bama
January 22nd, 2011
12:22 pm
My president is going to beat whoever those lame, stupid Republicans put up. Put up any and every Republican you want, and my smart, intelligent, good-looking President O’Bama will make them look like the fools they are.
The GOP is brain dead
January 22nd, 2011
12:22 pm
Graystroke and other mindless posters here continue to provide evidence for my claim that the GOP has become the party of the dumb and ignorant. “Marxists” how funny. And the rest of that rant makes him a candidate for a mental health assessment.
Joe D.
January 22nd, 2011
12:27 pm
David Bonior shamelessly brought up 75 charges against Newt, and 1 stuck. It is a fuzzy matter that had to do with how Newt financed a college course he taught. Back then, everyone was trying to take down Newt.
GFR
January 22nd, 2011
12:28 pm
This is really excellent news. Although I like Palin, Gingrich is definitely the intellectual heavyweight in the Republican party, (Palin is head and shoulders above anybody on the left). The ultimate ticket would be Gingrich-Palin but it’s hard to see how Palin would be willing to run for VP again.
A debate between Gingrich and obungler would be wonderful. Gingrich would club obungler like a baby fur seal.
A number of people have said that Gingrich can’t win because his negatives are too high. Here’s a newsflash: whoever we nominate the dummycrats are going to drop all the crap on them that they can and some of it is going to work. Just remember what they did to McCain in 2008, and he spent a whole lot of time trying to work with dummycrats. The same will be true even if we nominate Romney. We need to win or lose with a true Conservative candidate, anything less risks turning off our base when what we really need is enthusiasm.
Nominate a true Conservative like Gingrich and then go after obungler like a dog after rats. Put them on the defense ALL THE TIME. God knows they’ve got plenty to answer for.
Eric Something
January 22nd, 2011
12:31 pm
You will get the President that the corporations decide you will get, it’s not up to you so stop worrying about it.
captainkona
January 22nd, 2011
12:35 pm
Even Obama would beat this turkey in an election. Sorry, Gingrich fans. There will never be a POTUS named “Newt”.
LOL, what were his parents thinking?
joe dirt
January 22nd, 2011
12:35 pm
It’s quite obvous most of you are stupid. Newt has forgot more about being a good pres then all of your options noted in this thread! Get a grip we need a smart well rounded knowledgeable person not an Alaskan hunter or decon from Chicago!
Joe D.
January 22nd, 2011
12:36 pm
Dear Eric,
It’s up to the people. Look at how the Tea Party influenced the last elections. The real question is, will the people have the will.
“Every generation get the President it deserves” Sorry, I don’t remember who’s quote that is.
Bob A
January 22nd, 2011
12:41 pm
No chance! Newt is a global warming hysteric and wants to amnesty 20 million Mexican invaders. We don’t need another Bush!
Ray
January 22nd, 2011
12:47 pm
NEWT IS A MODERATE, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, HE CHOSE THE LIBERAL OVER THE CONSERVATIVE IN NY23. SCOZZAFAVA THEN ENDORSED THE DEMOCRAT. FOR THAT I COULD CARE LESS WHAT HE THINKS.
j
January 22nd, 2011
12:47 pm
roadkill has a better chance getting elected than gingrich
STEVEN
January 22nd, 2011
12:49 pm
Ultra Liberals will be coming out of the woodworks from this point on.
Gingrich has positioned himself as the man that knows how to fix this financial debacle that the Democrats have dug us in to in recent years. His appearance on talk shows and Television shows that he has the ability to make any opponent look silly when there is an intelligent discussion about Politics.
Either liberals will back O for a second term or they will stay home & say no to O. This leaves the door open for a Gingrich run.
Dick
January 22nd, 2011
12:50 pm
O Lord, another election of the “lesser of the two evils”.
Open Thread–1/22/2011 » Politics Plus
January 22nd, 2011
12:52 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution: In the last 24 hours, former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich has touched base with several [...]
Suzanne Grant
January 22nd, 2011
12:52 pm
Newt Gingrich has had ‘his day in the sun’ and his ‘fifteen minutes of fame’. The last thing this country needs at this time in history is a Newt in the White House. Newt’s recent new wife is pushing him in this endeavor. Perhaps she was too young when he was in the government in Washington, DC. Newt’s old, tired ideas have NO place in today’s political environment, especially against the Chicago Thugs surrounding Barack Hussein Soetoro Obama. We need a REAL leader and not just on who plays one on television. Save your money, Newt, and don’t expose the USA to your rehashed political rhetoric which went out of style years ago.
John
January 22nd, 2011
12:59 pm
Please, God, no.
The Republican Party needs NEW blood, not some washed-up has-been who was chased out of power 10 years ago for hypocritically cheating on his wife while impeaching Bill Clinton for doing the very same thing.
Newt, you sucked in 1994. For all of your endless blather about small government, all you accomplished was a revision to welfare programs. Big whoop.
I’m a Tea Party member. I attend meetings and donate money. If the Republican Party gives us another half-RINO retread like McCain or Dole in the form of Newt Gingrich, I am going to suggest that my fellow Tea Party members abstain on voting for president.
I would rather see Obama win again than see a Big Government Republican Establishment candidate win.
Oxford Onchby
January 22nd, 2011
12:59 pm
Newt is very bright and very experienced. He and Tim Pawlenty would be a tough ticket to beat.
Somnolence
January 22nd, 2011
1:04 pm
Even though I won’t support his candidacy, Gingrich, even with all his personal baggage, is preferable to a potential Donald Trump candidacy. We find out today on the Drudge Report that Mr. Trump is a financial contributor to the quest of Rahm Emanuel to become mayor of Chicago. With all of his financial smarts, Trump is simply another member of the Establishment, with moral baggage of his own to contend with. I hope Sean Hannity remembers that the next time he has him on his show.
Kenneth Davis
January 22nd, 2011
1:08 pm
America Please Wake UP. Newt Gingrich is a Globalist and a Council on Foreign Relations member. Newt is in Favor of Global Warming just take a look for yourselve you fools.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/04/22/video-pelosi-fights-global-warming-with-newt-gingrich/
quick
January 22nd, 2011
1:10 pm
I like Newt….so there!
Phillip Inuhoff
January 22nd, 2011
1:12 pm
Beth
What business experience are you talking about?
The experience of showering corporapetions in stolen tax dollars, while supporting their right to outsource, off shore and employ sweat shop labor? Or, the experience of then helping those same corporapetions, maximize profits by avoiding import fees and tariffs, to sell their crap back to the sheep they just laid off?
Is he running on the status quo ticket?
Is his slogan, “Contract on America 2, because some how she’s still standing.”?
The GOP is brain dead
January 22nd, 2011
1:12 pm
GFR, you provide more evidence for how ideologically blinkered members of your party have become with your “Palin is head and shoulders above anyone on the left.” On what possible grounds can anyone say that?
Palin aimlessly kicked around four or five colleges before graduating from a second rate school with a degree in the rigorous field of “sports journalism.” She was the part-time mayor of a tiny town smaller than Perry, Georgia, and quit less than half way into her term as governor with an incoherent rambling speech “explaining” why. She is so intellectually lazy or incompetent, I think both, that she has to have a teleprompter in front of her or notes on her hand to make more than two points in a sitting. She couldn’t say what she read to keep abreast with international relations and politics, probably because she reads nothing, thought that Africa was a country, and made the false and odious claim that health care reform contained “death panels.”
One of the few remaining conservative intellectuals in America in George Will a few weeks ago was asked about Palin. He responded by saying that after 2008 she had two tasks to undertake to be taken seriously. One, to go back and govern Alaska and two to study. Instead, she quit in order to become a television celebrity. It is too bad that, unlike Will, the dumb and dumber who now make up the GOP can’t tell the difference between a TV image of an empty dress and a serious politician. But it seems you can’t.
What a collection of half wits the American right has embraced: Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh (without a degree of any kind among them and no evidence of ever having read a serious book), Palin, O’Reilly, and the bible thumper Huckabee who doesn’t believe in evolutionary theory. This party has simply become a joke. It’s too bad the whole country has to suffer for the stupidity and sheer ignorance of those who vote for the GOP
KYJurisDoctor
January 22nd, 2011
1:15 pm
Permit me to say: Fat chance Gingrich!
The GOP is brain dead
January 22nd, 2011
1:16 pm
The stupidity continues. Somna, the Drudge Report is just a right wing gossip column or perhaps you think that it is the objective, credible source that O’Reilly drew upon when he called for the black woman to resign based on an edited video which appeared there. Only and ideologue or a fool would believe anything which appears there.
And who is the other idiot who thinks that accepting the evidence for global warming counts against Gingrich?
With each passing election I find myself wondering how much dumber the GOP can get and yet they always manage to sink a bit further down the evolutionary scale.
John Holladay
January 22nd, 2011
1:16 pm
No thanks Newt.
The GOP is brain dead
January 22nd, 2011
1:18 pm
John, it wasn’t Gingrich who pushed for welfare reform it was Clinton. But I have the lowest regard for the emotional, immature, and hate-filled behavior and rhetoric which comes out of the so-called “tea party.” The rest of the democratic world thinks that Americans are sliding off the deep end and they may be right.
lance sjogren
January 22nd, 2011
1:19 pm
I just wonder who is Gingrich’s constituency?
Conservatives who want someone who supports amnesty for illegal aliens, a New World Order liquidation of self-determination for the American people in exchange for a global nation-state, and who carries a jumbo sized set of personall baggage?
Somnolence
January 22nd, 2011
1:20 pm
Yeah, I know that Drudge is a “right wing gossip” columnist, and I’m very proud to be a right-winger. Trump and Gingrich are categorically allied, and only a fool would think otherwise.
deniro11
January 22nd, 2011
1:20 pm
Your never to old Newt and you have heart its alot more than you can say for that money spending bum )OBOMO) who is bent on destroying this great country Mike in Connecticut and i would vote for you Obomo is gone in 2012 people no hes no good and a liar
NotFondOfLibs
January 22nd, 2011
1:22 pm
I am going to assume that most of the comments here are from Georgians. I am not and I consider Newt Gingrich a lot more qualified to be President than the current occupant. In a debate, Gingrich will reveal Obama for the legislative and executive fraud that he is. Obama has no idea how to cure the current economic problems of this country. Gingrich does and will, after he is elected President, probably with no help from idiots from Georgia who don’t have a clue.
Phillip Inuhoff
January 22nd, 2011
1:23 pm
@John (Tea party member)
Thank you Brother.
lance sjogren
January 22nd, 2011
1:23 pm
GFR said:
“We need to win or lose with a true Conservative candidate, anything less risks turning off our base when what we really need is enthusiasm.”
And Gingrich is a “true conservative”? What are you smoking?
Joe D.
January 22nd, 2011
1:29 pm
Dear GOP is brain dead,
You have to use more than ad hominem attacks. According to you, a college degree from an expensive institution = a good leader. You have to have wisdom to apply the knowledge you learn, and todays universities aren’t bastions of wisdom. Lincoln, Reagan, and Eisenhower were all considered incredibly stupid by the left. The reason is that people like you get so flustered and upset that all you can do is point at someone and call them stupid.
GaPeech
January 22nd, 2011
1:29 pm
I am a lifelong Republican. There is no way in hell I would vote this womanizer for dog catcher, much less President.
lance sjogren
January 22nd, 2011
1:29 pm
“Even though I won’t support his candidacy, Gingrich, even with all his personal baggage, is preferable to a potential Donald Trump candidacy”
By golly you make a heck of a point there. I’d say he also is preferable to Michael Bloomberg, Alan Grayson, Jesse Jackson, why there are a whole lot of people he’s better than.
On the other hand, of the 310 million or so Americans, I would you could find 250 million any one of which would make a better President than Gingrich.
lance sjogren
January 22nd, 2011
1:30 pm
Hey, go easy on gop is brain dead guy. He probably has rotted his brain spending all day watching shock jocks on MSNBC.
Kenneth Davis
January 22nd, 2011
1:30 pm
Newt is a Globalist that loves supporting the Global Warming Scam! Newt is not a Conservative, Newt is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations that is distroying our Consitution and way of life. You conservatives NEED to WAKE UP. These NEOCONs are a traitors of the Constitution just like George Bush SR. and JR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upphPTRr_PE
American
January 22nd, 2011
1:32 pm
“I helped create the modern Republican Party in Georgia”
The Modern Republican Party is in a mess Newt, you are part of the problem you are a RINO.
http://vimeo.com/6445068
Somnolence
January 22nd, 2011
1:38 pm
I was just thinking, both Newt and Rudy have a roving eye for the ladies, but the only difference in many folks minds, at least the ones I talk politics with, is that Rudy actually wore a dress and lipstick walking down Broadway once. Man, you wouldn’t believe how that picture sticks in some folks’ minds.
Jimbo fm Fayetteville
January 22nd, 2011
1:43 pm
I think Newt is a brillant man, but because of past character issues and permanent personality issues, is unelectable as POTUS. He would be of more value in a Senior Advisor position of any sort.
Kenneth Davis
January 22nd, 2011
1:43 pm
The American and lance sjogren hit the nail right on the head! Newt is part of the NWO just like the last four Presidents including the liar in office today, Obama. America has been de-industrialized through NAFA, GATA, and the WTO and we have lost 42000 manufacturing companies and 8.5 million jobs have left this Country under their leadership. That leadership included Newt. WAKE UP and do the research on the numbers yourselve, PEOPLE! Newt is a Globalist and Globalism has destroyed our manufacting in the USA with the help our these leaders in office.
quick
January 22nd, 2011
1:48 pm
Newt…the new Palin!
At least for the left.
Shane Douglas
January 22nd, 2011
1:57 pm
Remember the last president from Georgia. Wasn’t he a winnah. NOT
Yeah I know I mis
spelled winner on purpose. Get over it.
Son of Liberty
January 22nd, 2011
2:04 pm
Palin not qualified? What are you smoking?
If the current president was qualified to be president – having not accomplished anything in his life, previously, except being “elected” to the Senate – then Palin, who ran two governments (city and state) is surely qualified. That said, I would not support her because she is a quitter.
Newt, while possessing a brilliant mind, has the whole infidelity thing haunting him. Plus, as someone stated here, he is from the establishment.
We need someone who has run a business, someone who has the fiscal responsibility to make the tough decisions to ensure profitability (re: not going further and further into debt with frivolous spending) to run our federal government.
Herman Cain is that guy. I fear, though, that he is not well known enough to get the nomination. But nonetheless, he is still the right man for the job. He would not be all rhetoric like every president since Bush 41 (and several before Reagan) has been. He would roll up his sleeves and get the country back on track, and he wouldn’t bow to every foreigner he came across.
I’d miss his radio show, but it would be worth it to save the country.
P.S. Ron Paul is a nutjob.
Daniel
January 22nd, 2011
2:06 pm
Another me-thinks politcal elitist who’s narcissisitic self illusion leads him to believe conservative voters are going to come out of the woodwork and rally around him….get real Newty…you stodgy old party bosses who think only of yourselves can go take a flying leap before I’ll ever throw a vote your way….save us the trouble and go waste your time on another bloviated book instead….
Looks like no worthwhile choices in the GOP anymore….just Rinos and blow hards…..four more years of Slowbama ahead….oh goodie!!!!!
Duane
January 22nd, 2011
2:06 pm
I don’t know of anyone with the ideas and ability to present them like Newt can. His recollections of history and relative events is great. I discount Palin altogether. I see the past candidates in the news as tried and tired horses. But perhaps we need a dark horse like Jon Huntsman who has the business, governorship and international relations experience to offer.
Phillip Inuhoff
January 22nd, 2011
2:06 pm
@ I am Brain Dead
You are a scumbag hypocrite. You demoncrats have built your entire agenda around hate since the 60’s. You are the first to label people Nazi’s or racist, while defending the SEIU thugs, Beat whitey night, black panther voter intimidation, la raza and mecha vitriol and genocide of the black community in L.A…. You are a sick pig.
The original tea party got angry and threw out a bunch of pompous, self entitled thugs. We sing songs about them. We have multiple National holidays in their honor. Our National pride is derived from their action.. Only a traitor would think that these same principals, set into action today, would be derogatory. Only a traitor would ignore their Constitutionally mandated duty to resist tyranny, both foreign and domestic.. You should leave, coward.
The GOP is brain dead
January 22nd, 2011
2:09 pm
Joe D,
To the contrary you need to read what I posted more carefully and you will not see the claim that a degree from an expensive university equals good leadership and your concluding line about my supposedly being “flustered” (I am not) is quite ad hominem. The comments about lack of education were primarily about Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, and the other circus barkers and screaming heads of conservative media (and their audience.) It is a legitimate criticism to say that people who influence the views of others and who are “commentators” on politics should know something. And none of these three has a degree of any kind, none has any kind of on the job training in journalism, or gives evidence of knowing or having read anything. You are free to disagree with the last comment but it is not ad hominem, but the judgment of someone who is reasonably well read and informed and can distinguish an ignorant blowhard from a serious person. As such pointing out these facts is a critique of their lack of qualifications or credentials for being taken seriously though that hardly stops them from making pronouncements on everything from international banking to evolutionary theory and global warming. No professor in an elite or state university or the regional university where I teach would make claims that extend well outside their area of expertise or knowledge. But the audience of these blowhards is too ignorant and biased to recognize pseudo-journalism from ignorant people and doesn’t care about having accurate views.
As far as good leadership Aristotle gave us the concept you alluded to in your first sentence in marking the distinction between theoretical knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence on the one hand and practical knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence on the other in his ethical works and his work titled Politics. I understand your point better than you do and it is implicit in my remarks. Political leadership requires practical intelligence ability to apply a wide range of knowledge of the economics, politics, and international affairs to policy. I claimed that Palin has no practical intelligence, knows nothing of these things and she has demonstrated that time and again. (If she had finished her stint as governor and read to repair her ignorance as George Will suggested it might, might have been different. But I think that Palin is more suited for housekeeping than anything else.) Another example was the disastrous “W.” Bush didn’t even know the leaders of India, Pakistan, and Canada after he won his party’s nomination. He didn’t know the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims on the eve of the war in Iraq. Would you have us believe that this means nothing? That one need know little or nothing in order to be president?
And finally, no one on the left thinks Lincoln was “stupid” where do you get that idiotic notion? And Eisenhower is not seen that way either and in fact he was president of Columbia University. However, Reagan was both stupid and senile.
The GOP is brain dead
January 22nd, 2011
2:13 pm
Philip, I pity people who as a bitter and angry as you. But I fear the consequences of those like yourself involving themselves in politics. I hope that you don’t own a gun and that you seek help for whatever psychological disorder causes you to spew such venom.
Captain
January 22nd, 2011
2:15 pm
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