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Newt on a Run: Gingrich Campaign on a Roll After Bumpy Start
by _Human Events_
(http://www.humanevents.com/search.php?author_name=Human+Events)
10/21/2011
After stumbling out of the gate in his run for the GOP presidential
nomination, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's campaign coffers are
rising in direct proportion to his poll numbers.
“The campaign is becoming really fun,” said Gingrich, who announced his
candidacy for the White House on May 11, only to have a half-dozen key and
senior campaign staffers resign within six weeks.
Not content with the publicity from their walkout, former staffers hurt
their former boss with gossip about his spending, and the role of his wife in
the campaign.
The former speaker hurt himself with an awkwardly public misunderstanding
with Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Minn.), the chairman of the House Budget Committee.
Gingrich started it when he criticized Ryan’s tactical decision to
propose reforms to Medicare. The ensuing back-and-forth became a distraction
and
sapped the campaign’s energy.
Now, Gingrich said, the atmosphere is positive and the campaign has
traction.
“I can't make it through the airport without a dozen people pledging their
support and clicking a quick photo,” he said.
The former speaker said he is connecting with voters because the American
people need a leader to take the country in a new direction.
“The country is in a lot of trouble. I am going to keep doing what I am
doing. Talking about big solutions and how we can beat Obama next fall,” he
said.
In his political column for financial news site _Street.com_
(http://www.thestreet.com/story/11282494/1/newt-gingrich-upgraded-to-buy-from-hold.html])
, Joe Deaux wrote that Gingrich’s debate performances have been key to his
campaign’s new life.
“Gingrich proved again that he understands the legislative process more
fully than any of the other candidates, and he used his weighty House
experience to rise above petty eruptions that characterized the event,” Deaux
wrote in his article titled, “Newt Gingrich Upgraded to Buy From Hold.”
Erick Erickson, the leader of the _RedState.com_ (http://www.redstate.com/)
blog, said Gingrich was the winner of the Oct. 17 GOP Debate in Las Vegas.
“He gave the most solid answers throughout the night with only one stumble—
when he admitted his prior support for an individual mandate,” he said.
Erickson, who hosts a weeknight talk show on _Atlanta’s WSB-Radio_
(http://www.wsbradio.com/lsp/programs/erick-erickson/) , said he is not
convinced
Gingrich had turned the corner, but he is doing much better.
“I think it is too soon to tell, he said. "He is going up in the polling
to be sure.”
“To find a path to victory, he is going to have to exploit Herman Cain's
fumbles and translate debate gains into fund-raising,” Erickson said.
R.C. Hammond, the campaign’s press secretary, said when he looks at every
indicator, it is clear to him that Gingrich will have the momentum through
the fall to be the alternative to the front-runner.
Fund-raising has been strong enough to support an expansion of the playing
field, he said. “The campaign has raised more money since the Western
Republican debate than it did the entire month of July.”
“Over $175,000 since Tuesday, average contribution of $84, with three out
of four donations from new donors. The campaign is currently on pace to
raise more in October than it did over the entire FEC [Federal Election
Commission] third quarter,” Hammond said.
“The average contribution during the FEC third quarter was $76—and 50% of
contributions in the third quarter came from new donors,” he said.
The increased cash flow to the campaign is making it possible for Gingrich
to expand the states in play, and hire new key staff, Hammond said.
The strategy is to concentrate on the first three states, New Hampshire,
South Carolina and Iowa, and then have people and structure in place to
leverage success into more success, he said.
“In New Hampshire, the campaign has hired Andrew Hemingway as its first
paid staffer, to work with volunteer Team 10 Leader Michelle McManus, a 912
project organizer from Bow, N.H.,” he said.
“_Hemingway_
(http://www.unionleader.com/article/20111019/NEWS0605/110609989) was the most
immediate chairman of the NH Liberty Caucus, which helped
elect 100 new conservative legislators to the New Hampshire State House,”
Hammond said.
“In South Carolina, the campaign has deployed its National Coalitions
Director Adam Waldeck to organize the state,” he said.
“Adam is working with volunteer Allen Olson," he said, "who was the
founder and most recent chairman of the Columbia Tea Party.”
“The campaign will soon announce its Iowa team and open a Des Moines
office,” he said.
Hammond said he is seeing the resurgence in the size and enthusiasm of the
crowds.
“Newt has spoken to overflow crowds at town halls in Phoenix on Wednesday
and in Dallas today. He will campaign in Iowa over the weekend and on
Monday, and New Hampshire the middle of next week, then to South Carolina on
the 28th,” he said.
Hammond said people outside the campaign did not understand what happened
inside the campaign during its rocky first six weeks.
“When the staffers quit there was a panic for maybe 10 minutes,” he said.
“Then, Newt talked to us and we were fine.”
The former speaker told the remaining staff that it would take the whole
summer to work through the tough launch, but if they stuck to his plan they
would be ready in the fall to challenge the front-runners.
The press secretary, who has been with the campaign from the start, said
Gingrich was liberated after the staffers quit. “It was like he no longer
had to argue with his own staff about what he wanted to do with his campaign.
”
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