Newt's newsletter on the 21st Century Contract with America

Newt opened this week's newsletter:

Seventeen years ago next Tuesday, on September 27, 1994, House Republican candidates signed the Contract with America.

The debt we owed President Ronald Reagan was captured in the Washington Post’s headline “GOP Offers a 'Contract' To Revive Reagan Years."

As the Post reported:

"More than 300 Republican lawmakers and candidates yesterday pledged that if they take over the House next year, they will resurrect the Reagan agenda that drove the party's success in the 1980s -- promises of balanced budgets, tax cuts and defense buildups.

"House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (Ga.), poised to become Republican leader in the next Congress, proclaimed the photogenic rally on the Capitol steps "an historic event" that would change the government as much as the New Deal did. The 10-point agenda, he said, gives Republicans a positive platform and a response to charges that their only message is opposition to President Clinton​."

We ran an ad in TV Guide that was two full pages. It had no pictures and no attacks on President Clinton or the Democrats. It was totally positive and issue-oriented. The ad outlined the ten bills we pledged to vote on in the first 100 days if we were given a majority.

The result:

The American people liked our positive focus on issues enough to give us the greatest vote increase in American history for any party in an off year. Republicans gained 9 million more votes while Democrats lost a million votes.

After discussing President Obama's plea that "if you love me, you've got to help me pass the bill -- go and read that part please -- Newt continues:

As President Clinton noted on Sunday talk shows this week, we were able to work together through divided government to balance the budget, reform welfare, cut taxes and bring unemployment down to 4.2 percent.

It took real maturity and discipline, and a focus on doing what was best for America, to get a Republican Congress and a Democratic President to do that much despite divided government.

Here is the link to the full newsletter again.

A terrific newsletter and a great lead-in to a week from Thursday when he unveils the 21st Century Contract with America.

This Thursday -- either tomorrow or later today, depending on when you're reading this -- is the Fox News Debate. Hopefully Newt knocks it out of the park two Thursdays in a row and continues the momentum. We're just about 4 months out of Iowa.

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