The media claims Pawlenty was the first to unveil an economic plan

In a speech yesterday, Tim Pawlenty outlined his economic plan. It is quite good -- though much of it is similar to the one Newt gave a speech unveiling on May 13. Notice the date Newt released his plan -- May 13, almost a month ago -- because the media obviously doesn't notice the date.

The mainstream media, even some mainstream conservative outlets, spent yesterday and this morning talking about how Pawlenty was the first Republican to have a plan on the economy. As should be expected, Newt's camp wanted to set the record straight.

Newt's spokesman, Rick Tyler, tweeted that one of the members of the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Stephen Moore, was at the very speech in which Newt laid out his nine-point plan.

POLITICO:

"Apparently, according to the Journal, its editorial board neither looked at nor has seen Gingrich’s jobs and prosperity plan, even though one of its members was present when he revealed it," Tyler told POLITICO. "It’s posted on our website and it’s been distributed to hundreds if not thousands of political reporters."

Kendra Marr: "Though the Journal apparently hasn’t been impressed, Investors Business Daily’s editorial board gave Gingrich an “A” grade for the plan, calling it “one of the most laudable economic plans in memory.”

Marr doesn't mention it, but as I have written about, Peter Ferrara has called it the best reform plan of any of the candidates.

Art Laffer, vital to the Reagan economic policies and the man who hosted the speech Newt laid out his plan in, said of the plan: "The combination of pro-growth tax reform, spending restraint, and sound money will restore robust economic growth with low unemployment and low inflation."

Newt will hold a dozen events in Iowa next week

Carmen Cox of ABC has the following details of Newt's next week:

At 8 a.m. Friday in Washington at the Fairmont Hotel, he will give an economics speech sponsored by Laffer Associates -- as in Arthur Laffer, creator of the Laffer Curve and the godfather of supply side economics. On Friday night, Newt will give his first official campaign speech in Atlanta.

On Saturday, he'll be in Illinois to give the commencement speech at Ronald Reagan's alma mater, Eureka College. On Sunday, Gingrich will appear on Meet the Press.

Newt will then spend almost all of next week in Iowa -- a dozen campaign events spread out over Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Wednesday, he'll head across the border for an event in Minnesota.

The speech in front of Laffer's group is interesting. While it sounds like it isn't an official endorsement, it might be a sign that Laffer -- and other supply-siders -- are not too crazy about the other candidates. CNBC host Larry Kudlow, another influential supply-sider, recently had Newt on his TV and radio shows as well as participated in an American Solutions workshop in 2008.

Cox continues:

Gingrich's campaign organization has already started to take shape. He's already secured space for his campaign headquarters in Atlanta and will soon have a campaign office opening in northern Virginia. And he's hired a campaign manager: 36-year-old Rob Johnson who, most recently, ran Governor Rick Perry's reelection campaign in Texas.

The former Speaker of the House will position himself as the experienced conservative: he's the only candidate who can say he personally fought for and delivered a balanced federal budget, tax cuts, and welfare reform -- all signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

"The response to inexperience should be experience," says Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler.