Newt will run a local and state-based campaign, not a top-down approach

Ralph Z. Hallow of The Washington Times has some new (as far as I know) info about how Newt's campaign will be structured:

Mr. Gingrich has recruited some of his party’s most sought-after campaign strategists and advisers and will conduct a unique 50-state “10th Amendment campaign” that throws out the old model of regional political directors. The campaign will rely instead, he said, on leadership and direction in each state from people who live in the state and understand the nuances of local politics.

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The Gingrich national campaign will set up “a fairly large headquarters in Atlanta” and a “fairly small headquarters in Northern Virginia.”

Instead of the division of the country into geographic regions with regional political directors, the structure typically employed by presidential campaigns, the Gingrich organization will use what the candidate calls the “10th Amendment campaign.”

It’s a reference, he said, to the Constitution’s “federalist” amendment that reserves to the states and local governments all power not specifically granted to the federal government.

“Everything stays in the states, instead of someone from Washington telling the local people how to do the things that the local people know more about.

“We expect New Hampshirites to help carry New Hampshire, Iowans to do the same for Iowa, South Carolinians to do the job for their state, and so on,” Mr. Gingrich said.

Most of the following I have already wrote about, but it is worth mentioning again:

There has been a methodical buildup of the Gingrich operation over the past few months even as some political observers openly doubted he actually would take the presidential plunge.

Mr. Gingrich has recruited people considered to be at the top of the game in politics.

Linda Upmeyer, Iowa’s first female House majority leader, will be chairman of his organization in Iowa, which will be the first state to hold a presidential nomination caucus next year.

He has locked up the services of two other sought-after advisers to Texas Mr. Perry: Craig Schoenfeld, who ran George W. Bush’s fundraising organization in Iowa in 2004, and Dave Carney, the New Hampshire-based political consultant.

He also has recruited former Polk County, Iowa, co-chairman and experienced campaign operative Will Rogers.

Former South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, considered one of the state’s most talented political operators, will run Mr. Gingrich’s operation there, he said.

The idea to avoid a top-down approach is exactly the right way to go. It is the idea behind the free-market: let a lot of different people try different approaches and then others can pick up on what works best. It is the same kind of campaign that Barack Obama ran. As well as, in many ways, the campaign that made Obama's possible: Howard Dean's in 2004. Both campaigns had competent leaders at the top, but they did not dictate to supporters how to go about advancing their candidate. (What is remarkable is that liberals can easily see the value of bottom-up approaches in campaigns, yet when it comes to economic matters, they are just interested in the top-down approach.

Newt calling it the 10th Amendment campaign is a great message due to the rising attention being paid to the last amendment of the Bill of Rights with the explosion of federal government reach into areas that had not before been under its' domain.

More about Newt's Iowa hires: Will Rogers and Craig Shoenfeld

(Update: Rogers has resigned from a paid position with the campaign but will, according to Craig Robinson, stay on in a volunteer role. Politico, writes: "Iowa sources tell me that when the campaign landed Katie Koberg, formerly of Iowans for Tax Relief before a big exodus from that group, Rogers was apparently layered over."

Here is my post about Koberg coming onto the campaign.)

Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register quotes Gingrich's spokesman, Rick Tyler, as saying of Shoenfeld: “He has a winning track record."

Of Linda Upmeyer, who will serve in the volunteer role of chairman of the Hawkeye state effort, Tyler says: “She’s a real leader and she’s been extraordinarily helpful to us over the years."

Jacobs tells a story of Rogers' past with Gingrich and Tyler:

Tyler recalled how a few years ago, Rogers offered to volunteer for the Republicans and was tasked to be Gingrich’s driver on a trip to the Iowa State Fair.

The gig stretched until very late at night.

“I was thanking Will for taking care of us all day long and through the conservation I learned he’d only been assigned to drive for the morning,” Tyler said. “He said, ‘no, no, that’s fine.’ He was there to serve.”

Tyler said they were impressed that Rogers knew Iowa so well.

“Going around the fair he knew everybody. And everybody knew Will. He’s like a one-man chamber of commerce and tourism division.”

The Iowa Republican: "Gingrich Puts Presidential Campaign in Motion -- Announces Iowa Team"

Craig Robinson of The Iowa Republican has the scoop on Newt's Iowa campaign staff:

TheIowaRepublican.com has learned that Iowa House Majority Leader, Rep. Linda Upmeyer, has agreed to chair Newt Explore 2012 in Iowa.

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Upmeyer, who is the state’s first female House Majority Leader, gives Gingrich a high profile endorsement that he can tout around the state.

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Gingrich is also adding two political veterans to his Iowa team. Craig Schoenfeld and Will Rogers will be his Iowa points of contact. Schoenfeld is a long-time veteran of local and statewide Iowa political campaigns. In 2004, he ran the Iowa Victory effort for President Bush, in addition to working on President Bush’s successful caucus effort in 2000.

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Will Rogers is a Des Moines native, Army veteran, and Drake University alumnus. For the past 15 years, Rogers has been involved in helping elect Republicans in Iowa beginning with Congressman Greg Ganske’s first campaign. He subsequently served as the Executive Director for the Polk County GOP, worked for Congressman Tom Latham’s campaign in 2004, and served as the Co-Chair of the Polk County GOP during the last election.

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Schoenfeld provides Gingrich with an understanding of how Iowa caucus campaigns operate. Rogers brings a wealth of activists’ contacts with him to the campaign. His extensive work in Polk and Story Counties could pay huge dividends at the Iowa Straw Poll this summer. The two have also worked on the same campaign before. In 2004, they both worked for Ganske’s U.S. Senate campaign against U.S. Senator Tom Harkin.

Last week I linked to a tweet by Kathie Obradovich that Upmeyer would be joining the campaign in some capacity.

Back in March, CNN had this to say about Rogers:

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 his 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."

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.