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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Secret of Newt's Success: Not the Grassroots

     In fact he-along with the rest of the Republican field-have been notably missing in action in places like Iowa and New Hampshire where the upcoming elections are scheduled. If you want to find Newt or the rest of the field come here to my neck of the woods, here in New York City-I live on Long Island but close enough.

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69831.html

    Still what is behind his sudden rise? You have to understand K-Street philosophy, it's very complicated(not really):

     "Ken Kies, an influential tax lobbyist who — along with his wife — maxed out to Gingrich’s campaign this spring and are among the hosts of Wednesday’s event, agreed."

    “K Street is predictable. It is full of people who see a parade and love to jump in front,” Kies said. “Newt is the parade. The guys who signed on with Perry now realize they bought an Edsel and the guys with Romney now see he can’t get above 25 percent."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69831_Page2.html#ixzz1fn68TXtH

     See how complicated that is?  "Former Gingrich senior aide Dan Meyer, now a lobbyist at the Duberstein Group agreed."

     "Considering what had happened earlier in his campaign, Newt knew he wasn’t going to raise a lot in D.C., but, if anything, people want to be on the right side,” Meyer said of Gingrich’s upward trajectory. “People will start hedging their bets.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69831_Page2.html#ixzz1fn6RA1oL

     "Perry and Romney have spent months courting the Hill and K Street crowds — considered important sources of campaign cash, endorsements and networking. While Gingrich maintains deep Washington ties, some in the lobbying community question whether he is a viable candidate, considering his controversial past. Others say his team has done little to capitalize on his surge."

     There is the quite plausible knock on Gingrich that he's a flake-this is the guy whose own campaign quit on him in the summer because he was more interested in using the campaign to market his books and videos than really run.. Due in part to the front-running tendencies of K-Street remarked on above he has picked on significant endorsements. The Wall Street Journal today reports that 40 members of the House and 8 members of the Senate have endorsed him. (pg. A4).
    Nevertheless many of his former Republican colleagues don't have great memories of him. Like when he had an ongoing affair with a House staff member as he was leading the charge to impeach Bill Clinton over Monica Lewinsky, or when he tried to tar former House Speaker Jim Wright for a book deal and later being reprimanded by Congress for the improprieties of his own book deal.
    Then there's the admission that the hard GOP line that shutdown the government stemmed in part from Newt feeling slighted by Clinton on Air Force One.
    Newt is the conduit for the "Anyone But Romney" vote. Again, K-Street likes to front run: "
“Perry remains my first choice, but I don’t see much activity. I see little chance he makes the shootout. Newt is my fall back,” said one major firm lobbyist who has helped Perry court conservative movement support. “Many of my friends in the evangelical movement began moving from Perry to Newt and Cain to Newt a few weeks ago.”
 
    Newt is the perfect candidate for this year's Republican field-at heart he is not a public servant he is a reality start probably the best in the field. So he has a shot to win the nomination and a look at the numbers in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida confirm it.

    But as a Democrat it's like watching a rather enjoyable slow motion train wreck. I don't know how it is to be a real Republican and see your whole campaign become nothing but a prop for Donald Trump to pump up his mediocre ratings. Yet the National Review wants to remind Republican candidates to treat this very serious process seriously.

    What's very serious though is that this very unserious candidacy threatens to do some serious damage. In fact that latest polls seem to show him as the clear front runner with a runaway lead in Florida, a lead in Iowa, and a sizable lead in South Carolina and second in New Hampshire. He also leads in national polls with 26% while Paul and Romney tie for 2nd at 18% This is a stunning reversal for presumed frontrunner Mitt Romney. If this solidifies the tendency of K-Street to follow the winner will become irreversible in favor of Gingrich.


  The Democrats have their problems in Congress-in the Senate they have 23 seats up for election against only 10 for the Republicans. But the presidential race is the respite. The more this goes on the more the Democrats should just sit back and enjoy the crazy. We'll see who Trump hires December 27.
   

   
 

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