As I head to Iowa for the weekend, I want to report back to you on a very good week.You can sign up for future e-mails on Newt.org.
At every event in both New Hampshire and Georgia I’ve been asking people to be with me, not just for me, because this election is not about one person in the Oval Office. It is about more than just defeating Barack Obama.
It must be about all of us working together to change Washington. And you can watch our new video, filmed on the road over the past few days, spreading that message.
The good news is that this message is resonating. On Wednesday in Atlanta we had over 30 volunteers calling Iowa voters, but not just to make your traditional sales pitch. As one Atlanta volunteer, Jim Shinn (a first-generation American from Germany) wrote on his blog:
The phone calling was non-stop…Everyone was on a phone having a great time speaking with people in Iowa. Quite a few lively discussions but always positive…All were impressed that his volunteers were calling to listen to them and their issues.
The Marietta Daily Journal in Georgia also wrote a great article covering the range of issues that I talked about with voters at a rally and town hall meeting (You can see our pictures from all these events on Facebook).
If you believe in this message of sustained citizen involvement to change Washington, and want to be with me, not just for me, please consider making a small donation to our campaign, even if it’s just $10 or $25.
Thank you and we’ll be sending more updates soon about exciting new projects that are currently underway.
Your friend,
Newt
Volunteering for Newt 2012 at the HQHere is the link to his blog again and his Twitter account.
As many might have noticed, I have been posting quite a few excerpts from Newt's new book "A Nation like no Other".
What resonates with me in this book, is that this is the type of message that brought us to America and made us want to be Americans. It is a message that was taught to us in school but haven't heard since leaving childhood, except briefly again with Reagan & then in the Contract with America authored by Newt Gingrich. It is that America that I want to see again which is why I decided to volunteer for Newt Gingrich.
Yesterday was a kickoff for Newt's campaign to reach out to Iowa voters in order to listen to their thoughts and concerns about the upcoming election. Not a call for money. Nor to convince them how to vote. Just genuine concern for their issues, if they've been spoken about or haven't and what they personally think.
A small group of +35 people consisting of a high school student, some employed & some unemployed, small business owners, moms & wifes, as well as lifelong staffers and family members.
Some came from across town and some from as far away as North Carolina. All were volunteers, most all first timers. Yet when I spoke to each, the common themes I heard were how this guy, Newt, is the smartest man in the room wherever he goes and that is what we need for America today. That he had done it before and can do it again.
I would add for me personally that his Historical & Philosophical perspectives, which he bases his solutions upon, are unmatched by any of his declared or undeclared rivals. Especially so versus our Community Event planner who is always on holiday.
The energy in the room was unlike any I've felt before. Even before Newt arrived. Similar to a religious meeting, yet in quite a different way but just as strong. Almost like being at a championship college basketball or football game. People were pumped, they were happy to be there, they were ready to work with Newt.
The phone calling was non-stop. I did not see anyone take a break until Newt arrived. Everyone was on a phone having a great time speaking with people in Iowa. Quite a few lively discussions but always positive. No, not everyone supported Newt but all were impressed that his volunteers were calling to listen to them and their issues.
When Newt did arrive, the room went silent. Unfortunately I had a lively person on the phone and could not break away but I did see him take calls personally. I did get to hear his speech to us which further cemented in our minds why we were working with him and not for him. So unlike the soundbites and popular references that you hear from his rivals.
Afterwards people hit the phones again, inbetween bites of pizza. The room continued to buzz along with lively conversations all around. Camera's were walking around as well, interviewing each and every one of us. And in the end, we all got a one on one with Newt and our pictures taken with him. Truly, a great day had by all.
Gingrich toured the Genesis Shelter in northeast Atlanta. The facility helps homeless families get on their feet. Afterward, Gingrich said the shelter is an example of an assistance program that works.From the AP:
"It provides a very important service in the community and it's also a great example of the public-private partnership," said Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich said the shelter gets 75 percent of its revenue from voluntary donations from companies and individuals who want to be helpful and 25 percent from the government.
"You learn, I think, to use each news hook to get into a conversation," Gingrich told reporters at his Atlanta campaign headquarters, where he also met with volunteers making phone calls and writing letters to potential GOP voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.Newt posted this picture on Facebook:
"The debt debate is really a reminder that we are just grossly out of cycle in our spending patterns," he said. "We have done this before. We did balance the federal budget for four straight years. We did reform welfare. We did cut taxes to create jobs. We did bring unemployment down. So we know it's doable because we've done it."
The presidential hopeful delivered a dozen or so pizzas to the phone bank volunteers, and he arrived just in time to jump on a call from the Hawkeye state.
"I look forward to being with you, and I'd like to have your help," Gingrich told the caller after a briefly sharing some thoughts on immigration reform. "We'll actually be out there this weekend. We'll let you know where we're going to be, and we'll send you an email."
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"Let me say to all of you that I am really, really grateful that you are in here," Gingrich said. "This is very encouraging. It makes me feel very good. This is a very key part of this campaign getting launched in the right direction. You're much more believable than a 30-second TV ad."
Gingrich told reporters Wednesday he's not spending the kind of money some of his GOP competitors are shelling out in Iowa ahead of next month's straw poll, but is relying on a grassroots approach to stay in the race -- focusing instead on town hall meetings, call-in shows, and conference calls with thousands of voters at a time.
"I think that we are improving," Gingrich said. "We went through a period that was disruptive with the consultants. I believe in a positive, solutions-oriented campaign of substance. As we've now moved away from the consultants and back to that model, we're getting more and more coverage and having more and more impact. This country has to have a conversation with itself."
One of his volunteers patted Gingrich on the back and told him, "We're so proud of you. We know you can, because you have."
Susan Euart, who stopped by for a couple of hours to write letters, said she still thinks Gingrich has a shot because she doesn't think the next election will be about money.
"President Obama won because he had an incredible network," Euart said. "He had tons of money. I think people aren't looking at that this time. I really think they'll look past all the fancy ads. People care about who has got real answers, who says what they're going to do and who do they believe."
In fact, in a sit-down interview Friday, [Gingrich] sounded a lot like a community banker.There are some other good quotes, and I recommend going to Newt.org and read the rest.
"The game is rigged against small banks at two levels," Gingrich said in an interview at his Washington office. "One is that the aggregated marginal advantage of borrowing money that is set up here by the Fed is profitable if you are a very, very large bank. It's not nearly as profitable if you are a small bank. You have that disadvantage."
The other problem comes from what he sees as the massive new regulatory burden spurred by the year-old law.
"The regulatory burden can be handled by a large multinational bank as part of their general management process. It kills a small bank," he said.
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Although many politicians like to praise community banks in general, it’s unclear how much their fate truly bothers them. For Gingrich, it’s hard to escape the sense that the issue is a core part of his conservative philosophy.
"I have a particular passion for getting back to a community-based, small-business based, local entrepreneurial system," he said. "The whole base of the American model is local citizens with local resources providing local leadership. When you get to huge bureaucratic institutions, so you are branch #643, you have no capacity to provide local leadership anymore."
The former Speaker of the House also shared many small bankers’ distrust for, and distaste of , government interference. In his view, the government’s response to the financial crisis just made the situation worse.
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Like Tom Hoenig, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Gingrich said that Dodd-Frank solidified, rather than eliminated, the concept of too big to fail.
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"You already have a whole series of agencies that if they had done their job, it would have worked," he said. "We are now going to add more layers of agencies on top of the agencies we already have with the premise that the next one is going to be smarter and better."
A better strategy would have been to pursue -- and criminally prosecute -- bad actors during the financial crisis, including companies like Goldman Sachs & Co. that sold products that they themselves were betting against.
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"You know what capitalism is? Taking risk," Gingrich said. "You know what all those guys who are rich and made all that money and had all those neat places out in the Hamptons? That’s what you get for taking risk. You know what happens when the risk fails? You lose the plane, you lose the mansion. That’s what capitalism is. What we’ve invented is socialism on the way down and capitalism on the way up."
The mainstream media’s coverage of our campaign has paid little attention to substance and focused far too much attention on trivia and gossip. However, articles such as this one show there is a hunger for leaders with real experience who can offer real solutions.He also asked everyone to "consider a donation of $10, $25, $50 or more to help continue our campaign of substance over smears."
This campaign is based on the idea that at a time of such significant challenges for America, substance will matter more than smears.
Thank you for your continued support. Please share this article with your family and friends.
Read "Meet Newt Gingrich: The Community Banking Candidate" here.
Gingrich is spending today and tomorrow in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and has six radio show appearances lined up. His only publicized New Hampshire campaign stop with any voter contact was a tour of Spectrum Marketing Companies, a direct mail and marketing company whose clients include numerous Republican politicians.More from Shira Schoenberg:
Spokesman R.C. Hammond said Gingrich may do another business visit tomorrow. Otherwise, Gingrich is meeting privately with activists and business leaders. He said he met voters at a diner this morning.
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Asked about Gingrich’s grassroots activism, Hammond pointed to public events Gingrich did on previous trips, including a town hall meeting on health care in Derry, a meeting with Tea Party activists in Dover, and a meet and greet at a Conway cafe.
"The difference in substance and difference in experience will make a difference by January," Gingrich told reporters in Manchester. He pledged, "You'll see me here a lot just as you’ll see me in Iowa a lot."
Gingrich said he believes he will attract support from the Tea Party through a "10th amendment enforcement act." Hammond said that refers to an initiative to have citizens identify areas like education or health care where the federal government is overreaching. Republicans promoted a similar concept in 1996, when Gingrich was speaker, through legislation ensuring the federal government does not infringe on states’ rights.
Gingrich also suggested health initiatives focusing on brain science, regenerative medicine, and diabetes. He has said Congress should repeal the Dodd-Frank bill, President Obama’s reform of the financial industry.
"I'll rely on a strategy of substance and the notion that this country is in very deep trouble," Gingrich said. He pointed specifically to the problems of China outpacing the United States in science, technology, and manufacturing; the erosion of American exceptionalism; and the lack of a strategy for dealing with radical Islam. He said Washington has failed to solve the economic problems, and "there"s a very real danger we’re going to have a second dip" of the recession.
In the current impasse between President Obama and Congress over raising the debt ceiling, Gingrich said House Republicans are missing an opportunity to pass numerous potential solutions and force Senate Democrats to vote on them. Gingrich proposed increasing oil and gas exploration offshore and on federal lands, and raising the debt ceiling by $200 billion in exchange for getting that additional revenue.
"They have every right to say to the president 'here are five different ways of solving the problem, are you going to force America to default?' " Gingrich said. "If you are, we’ll have the Obama depression plus the Obama default."
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