Busy day for Gingrich in Iowa

Gingrich gave a speech today "to about 600 at the Iowa Renewable Fuel Association’s Summit in Des Moines."

Before the speech, Newt "met with House members, Senators, Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds at the Iowa Capitol."

The headline from the speech was that he called for abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency, replacing it with an Environmental Solutions Agency, which "would encourage innovation, incentivize success and emphasize sound science and new technology over bureaucracy, regulation, litigation and restrictions on American energy."

At the end of the speech, Iowa House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, about whom Newt has had very complimentary things to say, said, "I, for one, think that this is just the right guy to be president of the United States. And I think there’s a whole lot of people in this room who agree with me." Asked later about the meeting earlier in the day, she said there was no talk of a White House run, just "policy stuff." But, as Thomas Beaumont writes, "Upmeyer added: 'I’m a real fan. If he decides to run, I’m pretty likely to support him. I think he’s a solutions guy, an ideas guy. And that’s what I think we need.'"

Gingrich, should he run, also would have the support of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, who announced the news on Tuesday as well.