Newt's campaigning in Iowa getting attention.

Newt's campaigning in Iowa -- being there 16 of 45 days -- is getting attention in the Iowa press. Jennifer Jacobs of Des Moines-Register wrote a column today highlighting Newt's recent appearances in the Hawkeye State as well as his upcoming ones.

Newt will be back in the state with the first Presidential contest next Tuesday in "in Decorah and the surrounding area."

Jacobs:

On Aug. 4, Gingrich will be the highlight of a lawn party in Des Moines’s Waterbury neighborhood. Organizers of a five-county fundraiser say he will be at their event in Tiffin on Aug. 5. And he will be at the Iowa State Fair, his spokesman said this morning.

...

Since then, he was in Des Moines for the Strong America Now debt-reduction summit on June 18 and in Indianola on a tea party bus tour stop June 25.

On Fourth of July, he marched in the parade in Clear Lake and visited with political activists in that area.

Last week, Gingrich did speeches as part of a Family Leader lecture series in Pella and Iowa City. On the same day, July 11, he met with the Iowa Conservative Union in Cedar Rapids.

Later in the week, he spoke to a conservative breakfast club in Des Moines, threw the first pitch at an Iowa Cubs game (the ball did make it to the catcher, but Gingrich was in front of the mound, not on it), and spoke at a tea party event in Lamoni.

Before his Iowa visit next week, Gingrich is scheduled to be on the East Coast, campaigning in the early-voting state of New Hampshire before traveling to Georgia for several stops, including a meeting with phone bank volunteers at the Newt 2012 headquarters who call voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Newt's new online video: Big Government Kills Jobs

Link.


Love the footage of him in Iowa on the Fourth.

Newt's Fourth of July

Newt walked the July 4th Parade in Clear Lake, Iowa on Monday. He estimates that in his career he has walked 150 parade routes.

Jennifer Jacobs quotes him when he was asked about the campaign: "Did there seem to be enough support to proceed?" Gingrich told reporters after the parade. "I just wish all the guys in Washington would come out and walk one parade with me and go to one town hall meeting with me. I think they’d have a different attitude."

From The New York Times:

"The attention comes and goes," Mr. Gingrich said, reciting rhythms of the Republican presidential race. "Sometime around October and November, it will settle down and be a race."

...

"I like campaigning face-to-face with people and being able to talk to folks," Mr. Gingrich said, adding that he intended to spend 16 days here in July and August. "It’s important to lay the base of support that will be there in January."

For all the speculation in political circles about the future of Mr. Gingrich’s campaign, there were no questions from Republicans who turned out for the parade.

They called out his name, waving him over for a handshake or a picture. He beamed as he walked from one side of the street to the other.

The sun was hot and the breeze was slow, but Mr. Gingrich barely broke a sweat. "Campaigning in August in Georgia is great training," he explained.

A gallery of pictures from the event.

Linda Upmeyer: Newt "a guy with ideas and the solutions."

(Update: the July 4th parade starts at 10 A.M. Monday. "Iowa House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, who has served as state chairwoman of Gingrich’s presidential campaign, said Gingrich will be in the parade and then spend the rest of the day enjoying the sights in Clear Lake," writes Peggy Senzarino.)

From Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines-Register:

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich will be in Iowa for a Fourth of July parade, will campaign hard throughout July here and will return for the Iowa State Fair in August, he told one of his top Iowa advisers today.

“I think he’ll make every effort to re-establish his campaign in Iowa, the way it sounds to me,” Linda Upmeyer, a longtime Gingrich supporter, said after receiving a telephone call from Gingrich this afternoon.

“He’s absolutely committed to continuing on in Iowa."

Upmeyer added: "I still have confidence that this is a guy with ideas and the solutions. I’m absolutely interested in continuing to work with him and introduce him and see how it goes."

"Upmeyer said Gingrich called with questions about how to organize his day in Clear Lake," Jacobs writes. "He said he will bring his family to the State Fair, including a grandson."

Newt to visit Iowa 12 days in July; Reagan lost 13 staff in 1980

(Update: the July 4th parade starts at 10 A.M. Monday. "Iowa House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, who has served as state chairwoman of Gingrich’s presidential campaign, said Gingrich will be in the parade and then spend the rest of the day enjoying the sights in Clear Lake," writes Peggy Senzarino.)

-- Lost behind all the media reports the last day is a story that will actually be important to the nomination process: Newt will be in Iowa twelve days in July. That is in addition to the Tea Party Bus Tour event he will be taking part of this weekend.

Politico with a few details of the July swing: "a July 4 parade in Clear Lake (schedule of July 4 events) and a visit to Luther College in Decorah at the end of July. That's the alma mater of Callista Gingrich and she'll play in an alumni band there."

-- Another bit of information no one in the media wants to bring up: Ronald Reagan's staff in his 1980 campaign was in a constant state of flux. (Just read Craig Shirley's Rendezvous with Destiny.)

Reuters writes of Newt's trip to Atlanta today:

Gingrich, a former history professor in Georgia, said 13 of Ronald Reagan's aides quit during his 1980 presidential primary campaign. Reagan went on to win the nomination and the U.S. presidency.

"If I had to choose Reaganomics or 13 staffers quitting, I think for the average working American, Reaganomics was a much better deal," Gingrich said, referring to Reagan's policy of cutting taxes and reducing government regulations.

Not many are paying close attention to the race right now; hardly anyone is paying attention to staff news.

The voters who will decide who wins the GOP nomination are concerned about what a candidate will do to reduce the tax burden, to get the federal budget balanced, to get job creation, to make energy more affordable. Not the inside baseball coverage the D.C. media loves to drone on and on about.

-- Speaking of D.C. media: Am I supposed to take the Washington Post serious on other stories about Newt when they can't even get Newt's birthday right? Note to WaPo: it was June 17. Which you could have found out by searching for "Newt Gingrich birthday."