Newt announces his national co-chairs and Georgia chair

ABC:

Former Georgia Govs. Sonny Perdue and Zell Miller, who also served as a U.S. Senator, will serve as national chairmen of Gingrich’s campaign. Miller, a Democrat, famously denounced John Kerry at the 2004 Republican National Convention and supported George W. Bush’s re-election campaign.

Current Gov. Nathan Deal will chair Gingrich's campaign in Georgia.

“I’m proud to have three very important Georgians helping lead our campaign,” Gingrich said in a statement. “Sonny, Zell and Nathan are good friends and have always provided good counsel. They will be there very important voices as we talk to the American people about the right policies we need to win the future."

"America, at this critical juncture, needs a leader who has the discernment and understanding of where America needs to go, and the courage and leadership to implement that vision,” Perdue said in a statement. “Newt Gingrich has what it takes to do both."

“Newt is a leader,” Miller said in a statement. “Newt’s election as president is critical to the future of our country. We need a leader who has proven they can make big things happen. You don’t do big things by being a wall flower.”

At a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Gingrich said he will play in all the early states and has asked his supporters in Georgia to split their time campaigning between the neighboring states of Florida and South Carolina. Gingrich’s campaign is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga.

Newt is hosting first fundraiser Wednesday with some familiar names

This upcoming Wednesday, in Atlanta, Newt will be joined by current Georgia Governor Nathan Deal; his predecessor, Sonny Perdue; and former U.S. Senator Zell Miller. It will be the first major fundraiser of a possible Gingrich campaign.

Deal was one of the first public officials to endorse Newt back in January.

Perdue did the same in March.

Miller is expected to be a national co-chairman of the campaign.

Roundup of Newt News: Repealing Obamacare this year, New CNN Poll, New Hampshire visits, endorsement from Sonny Perdue

-- In this week's newsletter, Newt laid out his strategy to repeal Obamacare this year:

Republicans should attach the full repeal of ObamaCare to the debt ceiling increase bill and pass it immediately.. While passing it, they should make clear that they would be willing to pass a clean debt ceiling increase if the White House and Senate Democrats agree to defund the implementation of ObamaCare through 2012 as part of a package of real spending reductions.

The debt ceiling does not become a crisis until June or July.

If the House passes the bill with an attachment to repeal ObamaCare as early as possible, there will be several months to marshal grassroots pressure on the 18 Democratic Senators running for reelection in 2012.

If President Obama is still determined to be unserious about bringing spending under control, he will be forced to decide whether he is willing to risk a financial crisis by defending a program that a majority of the American people wants to repeal.

The American people should not be forced to accept an increase in the debt ceiling without significant reductions in the out-of-control spending in Washington.

-- The latest GOP primary poll from CNN shows Newt in third place.
With Donald Trump included:

Mike Huckabee 19%
Mitt Romney 18%
Newt Gingrich 14%
Sarah Palin 12%
Trump 10%
Ron Paul 8%

Without Trump:

Huckabee 21%
Romney 19%
Gingrich 15%
Palin 13%
Paul 11%

Since the last such poll CNN did, Huckabee has the same support, Romney has increased one point, Newt has increased five, and Palin has fallen six.

-- Joining current Georgia governor Nathan Deal -- as well as two members of Georgia's Congressional delegation -- former governor Sonny Perdue endorsed Newt for President.

-- Two more upcoming visits to the Granite State:

Clearly pleased with the reception he received last week in New Hampshire, Newt Gingrich has scheduled two more stops in the first-in-the-nation primary state in the coming weeks.

The Union Leader's Granite Status has exclusively learned that Gingrich, the former House Speaker, will return on March 30 for a series of media interviews and private meetings with key Republicans on the Seacoast. That night, he will travel to Massachusetts for a speaking engagement at Salem State College.
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Gingrich will be back again on April 4, with the featured appearance at 10 a.m. at Saint Anselm College's New Hampshire Institute of Politics. There, he will speak at a meeting directed at students but open to the public.

Announcement will be at 2:30 ET Thursday and some other notes

The announcement will be outside the Georgia Statehouse. Newt and Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, who has endorsed a Gingrich run, will also talk about reasserting the 10th Amendment.

Fox News has some details on his upcoming schedule:

He has been flirting with the idea for months and will travel to the First in the Nation Presidential Caucus state of Iowa on March 7th where he will address the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. The trip will be Gingrich's third to the Hawkeye State in 2011 and his ninth visit since 2010.

Gingrich will also make an appearance in the first in the nation primary state of New Hampshire on March 17th when he attends Bernie Streeter's Wild Irish Breakfast. The annual St. Patrick's day breakfast in Nashua is a major political event in the Granite state that typically draws both Republicans and Democrats.

From CNN:

Will Rogers, the former chairman of the Des Moines-area Polk County Republican Party, told CNN that Gingrich is certain to run 'a high level campaign operation here' if he decides to move beyond the exploratory phase.

"My feeling is that he looks like somebody who is going to run," said Rogers, who has known Gingrich for six years and plans to work for him if he embarks on a full-fledged candidacy. "He is doing the things that people need to do in order to become a frontrunner in the state of Iowa."

ABC:

Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn said he has been one of the most frequent visitors among likely GOP candidates.

"He's been helping local candidates and the parties raise money and appearing at local grassroots events -- the kinds of things you need to do in a caucus state like ours," Strawn said.

Mississippi Governor and potential 2012 rival Haley Barbour had this to say of Gingrich: "I'm crazy about him." Barbour was RNC chairman during Newt's Speakership.

Speculation on where Newt's headquarters could be

From Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

We’ve heard that Gingrich has had his eye on Buckhead – which is logical. Many Republicans for statewide office have located themselves in the same general area. Eric Johnson and Nathan Deal, both candidates for governor, did so last year. Sonny Perdue’s 2006 re-elect was there, too. The state GOP headquarters was within a stone throw of all.

We asked a GOP veteran with real estate experience what Gingrich might be looking for. Among his points:

– Gingrich will probably be looking for something in the 8,000 square foot range, with options to grow should things look good;

– Gingrich’s Center for Health Transformation has an office off the Glenridge Connector near the top of Perimeter. But he would more than likely want to put some geographic distance between his campaign and his business/private interests. The Federal Elections Commission gets very picky about these things.

– Quick access to Peachtree-DeKalb Airport, and the charter flights that will send the candidate to Iowa and New Hampshire, will be important. But the location needs to be near enough to Ga. 400 or I-85 to make it easy for low-ranking advance teams to make it to Hartsfield-Jackson without too much trouble.

– Given Atlanta real estate prices, Buckhead is a bargain. But Gingrich will probably want to stay away from Grade A space with its glass fronts and marble floors. Hard to ask contributors for money when your front office has valet parking.

– That said, volunteers will want to feel safe when walking to their cars. So Gingrich and his team will probably be looking for something in Grade B real estate. Or perhaps, they’ve already signed the lease.

– Visibility would be important as a backdrop for visiting TV reporters. The 2012 race for the GOP nomination could very well be wrapped up before the Georgia primary. But our GOP real estate veteran said he would recommend a building off a freeway, capable of carrying large signage, to catch those Yankees on their way to Florida.

More details from Newt's trip to Iowa this week

It had already been reported that Newt had met with Iowa Republican leaders, but today we learn that he met with some in the grassroots.

From a story by Thomas Beaumont for the Des Moines Register:

Gingrich also met for an hour with 15 tea party and grass-roots conservative activists, a newly active segment of the Republican caucus electorate heading into the 2012 campaign.

Gingrich asked the group about the recently formed Iowa Grassroots Coalition, a loosely affiliated group of 46 tea party and conservative groups.

Gingrich, who last fall had urged Iowa conservatives to block the retention of three Iowa Supreme Court justices, asked what they expected to happen with the remaining four judges.

Gingrich nodded at their stories about how the groups are organizing, educating their base and getting involved in the legislative process....

Ryan Rhodes, founder and chairman of the Iowa Tea Party, told Gingrich he would have to answer for participating with then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a 2008 advertisement raising awareness about global warming.

Gingrich responded that leaders cannot beat their adversaries without engaging them. "I'm going to try to convince you to debate them," he said. "I've had a fairly good track record of slugging it out."

I think those on the right who criticize Gingrich for that commercial needs to realize that he was not endorsing Pelosi's big government schemes. Just talking with someone on the opposing side does not mean Gingrich is a squish.

Of the announcements by Iowa Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer and Georgia Govenor Nathan Deal that they would support a Gingrich Presidential campaign, the former Speaker said, "I thought that was about as good a day as I'm going to get."

Busy day for Gingrich in Iowa

Gingrich gave a speech today "to about 600 at the Iowa Renewable Fuel Association’s Summit in Des Moines."

Before the speech, Newt "met with House members, Senators, Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds at the Iowa Capitol."

The headline from the speech was that he called for abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency, replacing it with an Environmental Solutions Agency, which "would encourage innovation, incentivize success and emphasize sound science and new technology over bureaucracy, regulation, litigation and restrictions on American energy."

At the end of the speech, Iowa House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, about whom Newt has had very complimentary things to say, said, "I, for one, think that this is just the right guy to be president of the United States. And I think there’s a whole lot of people in this room who agree with me." Asked later about the meeting earlier in the day, she said there was no talk of a White House run, just "policy stuff." But, as Thomas Beaumont writes, "Upmeyer added: 'I’m a real fan. If he decides to run, I’m pretty likely to support him. I think he’s a solutions guy, an ideas guy. And that’s what I think we need.'"

Gingrich, should he run, also would have the support of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, who announced the news on Tuesday as well.