InsiderAdvantage Florida poll and NYT/CBS National poll

The two most recent polls (as far as i know) have been a poll of just Florida by InsiderAdvantage and a national poll by The New York Times and CBS.

The Florida results, again taken before the latest debate, showed Newt in third place. 21.1% of the respondents were undecided.

The NYT/CBS poll, which was partially conducted before the debate as well as after, show Newt tied for third with Michelle Bachmann, with 22% undecided.

The Florida poll did not ask (or at least the results are not on the above link), but the national poll asked how committed those asked were to their candidate of choice. What the numbers show is that the support for both Romney and Perry is anything but firm, with Perry having an edge over the former Massachusetts Governor. But combined with the undecideds totaling about a a fifth of the electorate, there is clearly plenty of room for Newt to gain should he and his campaign keep the momentum going. (That also does not the supporters of candidates who may end up dropping out of the race.)

What's clear from these two polls and others from the past week: Newt is moving up, either tied or leading Bachmann in each. And that while Perry and Romney are leading at this moment -- just as Bachmann was a month ago and Donald Trump was five months ago -- they are not locked in by any means.

And of course, with the better poll numbers, more people will step forward to give money to Newt 2012 or give their time. Which, in turn, will drive up the numbers. Which will lead to more contributions and volunteers. Which...well, you get the idea.

(Audio) Newt interviewed by Steve Gill

Link to Part 1.



Link to Part 2.

(Video) Sean Hannity interviewing Newt

Link.



Here are two clips -- on the Gibson Guitar case and on why Newt is focused on Obama, not others in the GOP, at debates -- that the campaign posted to YouTube from the interview.

New Hampshire Union Leader editiorial on Newt

Link to full story on Newt.org. An excerpt:

In last Monday’s CNN-Tea Party candidates’ encounter, Republican presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich made an excellent point regarding who may be scaring whom the most on the subject of Social Security. He was not very concerned about the verbal tussle going on between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, Gingrich said, not when President Barack Obama is telling the country he couldn’t guarantee that Social Security checks would go out last month.

“Now, why should young people who are 16 to 25 years old have politicians have the power for the rest of their life to threaten to take away their Social Security?’’ Gingrich asked.

...

Liberal news media, which have already decided the GOP battle is a two-man contest, are all for making as much of the Social Security issue as possible. But it was Gingrich who scored best on the subject by turning it back on the Democrats, who are intent on demagoguing this one until next November. The Republican Party and its contenders may want to look to former Speaker Gingrich for the best strategy on Social Security questions and perhaps on many others.

An op-ed by Newt on the need to eliminate the capital gains tax

Full op-ed here.

Excerpts:

Encouraging work, economic growth, entrepreneurial innovation and the revitalization of our manufacturing base are the answers to the unemployment and poverty crises confronting America.

This is why I have proposed a tax policy that maximizes private capital investment to create jobs. It starts with eliminating the capital gains tax and the death tax, reducing the corporate tax to 12.5%, and 100% expensing of all new capital equipment purchases.

...

Many don't realize that the capital gains tax is not the only tax on capital income. First, the business in which one is investing must pay a 35% corporate tax on all income. Second, any dividends distributed to shareholders are taxed as individual income. Third, when the investor sells his share, he has to pay any capital gains taxes. Finally, if there is anything the individual has left at death, then this capital income is taxed again — a whopping fourth time — by the death tax.

All these taxes discourage investment in the United States and encourage it in foreign markets. This directly affects every American through lost jobs, lower wages and a weaker economy as the capital investment that creates jobs and bids up wages goes to another country, leaving American workers behind.

Newt also recounts how investment skyrocketed when he led the charge to cut the capital gains tax in 1997.

Newt sent an open letter to CBO Director on federal government waste

Read the full letter on Newt.org here.

From the letter:

As someone who led an effort which reformed government and led to four consecutive balanced budgets - paying off over $400 billion in federal debt - I was astounded by the news reports of your testimony.

According to the reports you suggested that efforts to eliminate waste and fraud would produce "a negligible impact."

...

Your statement is the management equivalent of ruling out air travel in calculating how long it takes to go from New York to California.

There are three expert estimates of potential waste and fraud savings in the federal government that propose "$100 billion a year", "$70 to $120 billion a year" and "$500 billion a year" as reasonable estimates of potential waste and fraud savings in the federal government.

...

How can you dismiss this widespread, independent analysis that suggests between $625 billion and $2.5 trillion in savings over five years is possible through profound management reforms?

In every one of these areas there are private sector examples of real life success.

What is the CBO explanation for rejecting the real world in favor of defending existing Washington inefficiency, incompetence, waste, and fraud?

Clip of Newt discussing Fast and Furious

Link.

More pictures from Newt's townhall yesterday in Florida

Here is a Facebook gallery Newt posted today of some pictures in addition to those I linked to yesterday here.

A great piece about Newt's campaign's social media strategy

(Another post I had to keep pushing back with all the news.)

Last week, Newt held a Team 10 Townhall in Pasadena, California (which I had a post about here). During the event, Chris Guzman (@christopherguz on Twitter), who was attending, started to tweet quotes of Newt. Newt 2012's Campaign account, @Newt2012HQ, started re-tweeting Chris.

Chris wrote a post about it. Go read the whole thing please, but here is an excerpt:

As I was tweeting out the Speaker’s remarks in 140 character increments or less, the official Twitter account for his election campaign picked up on my tweets to retweet them to their online audience (see screenshot above). In addition to retweeting me throughout the night, the campaign involved others tweeting about the event by retweeting them as well.

His online strategists clearly understand what it means to have a people-powered online campaign. After all, retweeting his supporters is not only earned media for Mr. Gingrich, but it also demonstrates that the campaign trusts his supporters. That. is. MONEY!

I appreciate Speaker’s emphasis on utilizing direct media (a.k.a. new media) throughout his campaign from the very start. He announced via Twitter and Facebook that he would be joining the 2012 campaign.

You can watch the Townhall here.

Byron York: Newt "is capable of taking control of the debate"

York writes:

One last word. After GOP debates in South Carolina, Iowa, California, and now Florida, it's time to admit something that has become more obvious with each new gathering: At any given moment, Newt Gingrich is capable of taking control of the debate, displaying a deeper knowledge of government than anyone on stage, and focusing the conversation to the Republicans' chief goal, the defeat of Barack Obama. While the other candidates fight with each other, Gingrich reminds everyone that for the GOP, Obama is the problem.

Newt's day in Florida

Newt had a packed schedule today in Florida.

Here are two pictures of a lunch he attended:

Picture 2:

Newt's Coalitions Director, Adam Waldeck, tweeted a quote from Newt's speech along with the second picture:

.@newtgingrich -- I have a plan to create American energy. President Obama has a plan to buy Brazilian energy.

Then it was onto a Tea Party town hall put on by the East Side Tea Party.

Waldeck again tweeted from Newt's speech:

Newt to @EastSideTea: "This is not the American Jobs Act, it's the Bigger Govt, Bigger Deficit Act."

He attached this picture to that tweet:

And another picture, this of the crowd:

With that last picture, Adam wrote:

Big thanks to @EastSideTea for putting together a great town hall in downtown Orlando.

One of those who attended the town hall was Steven Lindsley, who tweeted:

great talk with newt gingrich. Got a picture and he signed my copy of his book!

Here is that picture:

Newt's next step was a speech at the Ronald Reagan GOP Assemblies of Florida Reagan Dinner.

The topic was the way Reagan wrote and delivered speeches. The chairwoman of the Hillsborough County Republican Party, Deborah Cox-Roush, tweeted from the event:

The speech tonite was not political and @newtgingrich portrayed great historical insight on Reagan

She sent this picture along:

Sarah Rumpf live-tweeted much of the speech, and here is one of them:

"Reagan didn't make big speeches as bluffs," knew what he was doing, & was focused/ purposeful about it. ~ @newtgingrich #SeminoleReaganDay

Finally, Newt attended the Seminole High School Class of 1950 and 1951 Reunion, and here's a picture from that:

Newt moving up in the polls

Today, Public Policy Polling released a new national 2012 GOP Presidential Primary poll. Newt was in a statistical tie with Ron Paul for third place. And this poll was taken before Monday's CNN Debate, which went very well for Newt.

Here is the story on Newt.org. While you're over there, why not sign up to volunteer or contribute some money?

This news, of course, right on the heels of Newt being endorsed by the head of the Columbia Tea Party in South Carolina.

Gregory Tapis on Twitter wrote in response to the poll:

@Newt2012HQ I think this is a result of your heavy involvement in social media, your conference call, and you amazing ability to debate.

Newt's newsletter about the Gibson Guitar raid

(All the news the last few days pushed this back.)

Out of Tune and Out of Touch:

When I first read last week about dozens of federal agents descending on an admired American business with automatic weapons drawn, I thought the story was bizarre.

When I learned that what prompted this attack was the Justice Department’s interpretation of an Indian law, in a way that even India doesn’t interpret it, I could hardly believe it was true.

The government’s actions are so outside normal behavior, so lacking in common sense and such an outrage against the freedom of every American that it sounds like a scene from a dystopian novel.

...

Gibson Guitar makes very high quality guitars and attracts customers and tourists from all over the world.

Amazingly, this was the second assault on this small business. In 2009, federal agents seized six guitars, which they have not returned despite filing no charges in the investigation.

It is so bizarre it bears repeating. In 2009, armed federal agents seized six guitars.

...

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service apparently believes Gibson made inappropriate use of foreign wood under a 1900 law designed to ban materials illegally exported from other countries.

Gibson Guitar maintains it has papers from Madagascar in 2009 and India in 2011 proving the wood from both countries is legal, but hasn’t been given the opportunity to defend itself in court since the government has filed no charges.

There were apparently 26 armed federal agents assaulting Gibson Guitar in pursuit of endangered wood.

The Obama administration could use 26 armed agents to 1) help control the border; 2) fight drug cartels; or 3) hunt down terrorists.

But given the hard left bias of President Obama and his appointees, endangered wood from India was a higher priority.

...

Gibson Guitar’s CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has said that federal agents actually told Gibson its problems would go away if the company just moved its operations to Madagascar.

This is beyond ideology.

It is insanity.

Congress should investigate these bizarre events and the Obama appointees responsible for the abuse should lose their jobs.

Here is the local story about the government attack: Federal agents close Gibson Guitar plant in Memphis in search for ebony.

Between the National Labor Relations Board harassing Boeing about moving to Charleston, South Carolina -- but being perfectly okay if they moved to Beijing -- and now federal agents telling Gibson their problems would be over if they moved to a foreign country, is there any doubt why we have so many unemployed and underemployed?

Newt, it needs to be said, was the first to bring up the NLRB abuse at the CNN debate and the first to bring up the Gibson case at Monday's Palmetto Freedom Forum.

That is Leadership Now.

Newt endorsed by leader of Columbia, SC, Tea Party

Here is the statement Allen Olson, chairman of the Columbia Tea Party up until yesterday, released to the members of the group:

To my fellow Tea Party members,

There is only one candidate for president who is leading on what I believe are the underlying issues this country faces. Not only is this candidate talking about serious issues, he is providing real solutions.

It is with a great deal of hope and excitement for our country's future that I am supporting Newt Gingrich for President of the United States.

For me, the deciding factor in my choice to support Newt was his advocacy for the Strong America Now deficit-cutting plan. I first heard Strong America Now leader Mike George explain the plan at a Tea Party Patriots gathering in Washington, DC in November 2009. The plan, which uses a process called Lean Six Sigma to eliminate waste, will change the way Washington operates and allow us to implement necessary solutions. Newt was the first to sign the Strong America Now pledge and understands that it will take a new type of thinking to tackle the challenges we face as a country.

I believe too much bad government and the politics of both parties led to the mess we are in today. But Newt is talking about real solutions to fix these problems, such as breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and repealing the Dodd-Frank financial regulations. We need someone in the White House who will return this country to a free market so that we get back to America’s greatness and back to "We the People." I believe Newt Gingrich is this person.

You should know that I deliberated over my decision to support Newt for some time. In fact, I even considered not endorsing any candidate at all. As you know for the past several years I've worked with you to build the Columbia Tea Party, and until just yesterday, I proudly and humbly served as its chairman. For the same reasons and values I started the Columbia Tea Party, I am joining with Newt to make sure our country has a leader who values our freedom first.

Over the next year I intend to help Newt and his team build a grassroots movement here in South Carolina and to spread word of his support for solutions like Lean Six Sigma and his support of the Constitution and limited government. With this endorsement I hope that others will look at Newt as the real alternative to what the establishment is offering.

I am proud to support Newt for president. I stand with him and I hope you will, too.

Sincerely,

Allen Olson

Please consider joining Mr. Olson and signing up to join the campaign here.

Newt will be opening offices in Iowa and New Hampshire

(Update: It looks like it is Iowa and New Hampshire, not South Carolina.)

Today, Jason Clayworth of The Des Moines-Register wrote:

The campaign stops Monday in Council Bluffs and the surrounding area and will be in Sioux City the next day. Details to the visit will be released later this week.

Gingrich will additionally open his campaign’s first Iowa office in mid October somewhere in the Des Moines metro area.

“Iowa has always been the campaign’s top priority,” said R.C. Hammond, a spokesman for Gingrich. “We’re moving forward with our campaign plan. I look at this as a sign of that we’re gearing up, that we will have an organization that is ready to turn people out to caucus and support Newt.”

Sign up to volunteer for Newt here.

Tony Lee: Newt Gingrich Best Articulates American Exceptionalism

(I would have posted this Monday but with all the debate news did not want to deluge those who get the morning e-mail.)

Lee, who is covering the GOP Presidential nomination for the conservative weekly Human Events, wrote:

No current presidential candidate articulates what American exceptionalism is about more clearly and concisely than Newt Gingrich​. In addition, in an era where campaigns and candidates seem to have forgotten what a thesis statement that serves to tie together a campaign's message is, the former history professor also uses American exceptionalism to articulate not only what he is fighting against but what he is for.

...

To put it simply. More than anything else, what makes America exceptional (more than her geography and ability to historically assimilate different groups of people under a common culture and set of values) is that rights cannot be taken away from its citizens because they are granted to Americans by God and not a sovereign. According to Gingrich, this exceptionalism is under siege by liberals, led by Obama, who seek to slowly take away those rights. This framing allows Gingrich to use the Gibson Guitar incident, the Dodd-Frank legislation, and ObamaCare (in addition to a litany of other things) as supporting pieces of evidence to indict Obama and liberals as unexceptional. It is a powerful message that perfectly frames what election 2012 is really about.

Go read the rest of it; really an outstanding article.

Lee also includes the video of Newt's opening statement at the Palmetto Freedom Forum:

(Video) Newt on Greta following Monday's CNN Debate

Link.

What did @Newt2012HQ tweet tonight? (Big news in Iowa and South Carolina.)

First, the big news:

Think Newt did well tonight? We do too. Sign up to volunteer here: http://www.newt.org/volunteer. Iowa and SC offices opening next month.

FACT: Since the origins of the movement in Feb 2009, Newt has met with tea party leaders in 41 cities, from CA to CT.

FACT: More than 11 million jobs were created during Newt's four years as Speaker.

FACT: More jobs were created in Mass. during Newt's four years as Speaker than during Mitt Romney's time as Gov. of Mass.

FACT: More jobs were created in TX during Newt's 4 years as Speaker than during Perry's 10.5 years as Gov. of TX.

FACT: More jobs were created in Utah during Newt's four years as Speaker than during Huntsman's time as Gov. of Utah.

Who has more credibility on balancing the federal budget? One who talks about it or one who has actually done it? #withnewt

The balanced budget agreement Newt helped craft led to 4 straight years of balanced budgets and over 400 billion of debt paid off.

What did they tweet about Newt during the #cnnteaparty debate?

Dan Mangru:

Newt Gingrich is looking better and better with each debate. #teaparty #cnnteaparty

Matt Lewis of The Daily Caller:

HUGE applause for Newt's line.

Dana Loesch, radio talk show host and co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party:

Gingrich is doing the best job explaining free choice in social security. He wins this question. #cnnteaparty

Steve Everley:

Newt had the first standing ovation of the night with his social security answer.

Strong America Now:

.@NewtGingrich just gave us a shout-out in the debate! He has signed our pledge and encouraged the other candidates to as well! Thanks Newt!

Bill Bunkley, radio talk show host:

Newt wins first round by show of hands in debate watch hall...

Washington Post's The Fix:

Good debate for Newt so far too. Definitely has audience on his side. #cnnteaparty

Portsmouth New Hampshire Patch:

Gingrich comment that American people create jobs, not Congress drew much applause here in Rochester.

Teri Christoph, co-founder of Smart Girl Politics:

#SGP chat: Consensus is Newt is winning the debate so far. #CNNTeaParty

Phil Unvericht:

Tampa's watch consensus seems seems to be in favor of Newt. Best choice so far I think. @Newt2012HQ

Christian Camara, President of Tallahassee Young Republicans and Vice Chair of Lean County (Florida) Republican Party:

My #CNNDebate opinion up to this point: @newtgingrich winning.

Matthew Shuman, intern of Congressman Trent Franks:

@Newt2012HQ Newt is doing a good job, he is what America needs!

Ben Howe, contributor to RedState.com:

Am I imagining that Newt has gotten the biggest applause tonight?

Tony Lee, covering the GOP nomination for Human Events:

Newt: Mexico, Middle East, and industrial base at home need to be addressed. Smart answer. Easy to understand.

Newt to be in Iowa later this month

"He arrives in Council Bluffs on Sept. 19 and Sioux City on Sept. 20," writes Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines-Register

Newt's Upcoming Schedule

The big event, of course, is the debate tomorrow night.

-- Monday, September 12, 2011: Radio interview on WFLA in Tampa Bay, Florida. 8:30 AM ET. Facebook event page.

-- Monday, September 12, 2011: CNN/Tea Party Debate. Tampa, Florida. Facebook event page.

-- Tuesday, September 13, 2011: Screening A City Upon a Hill with Tampa Bay Young Republicans. Facebook event page.

-- Wednesday, September 13, 2011: Newt & Callista at the Ronald Reagan GOP Assemblies of Florida Reagan Dinner. Lake Mary, Florida. Facebook event page.