(Audio) Newt's interview with Mike Gallagher

Link.

(Video) Gingrich touts his experience over Cain's

Link to video.

Pictures from Newt's day in South Carolina

Last night, Newt spoke at an Aiken, South Carolina, Republican dinner. At least 600 people -- a sold-out crowd -- attended.

Ali Weinberg of NBC News live-tweeted the event. One of them she sent out:

Gingrich: I don't have any consultants on balancing budget. Don't have any talking points. I just have a decade of experience doing it.

This morning, Newt held another town hall in South Carolina.

The head of Newt's campaign in South Carolina, Adam Waldeck, sent out a few pictures:
Link.

"Newt: I have one opponent, and that is Barack Obama."

Link.

".@newtgingrich w/Joe Dugan and Gerri McDaniel from the Myrtle Beach Tea Party."

"Newt: We'll waive every single regulation that prevents us from having 100% control of the border by 1/1/2014."

"What a place for a townhall. Thanks to the Myrtle Beach Tea Party for putting together a great event."

The Florence GOP tweeted:

Great Job Team @FLORENCESCGOP ... Successful event for @newtgingrich this morning! #SCGOP #sctweets

A South Carolina reporter, John Sweeney:

"If you'd like to have paycheck rather than food stamps, vote for me," @newtgingrich says #florencesc

Elijah Jones tweeted: "@newtgingrich in #flosc at Bazen's Restaurant. Great Crowd!"

Zach Lamb posted this picture of him and Newt at the Myrtle Beach event:

David Risner:

Great listening to @newtgingrich in Myrtle Beach today!! I urge ALL my fellow Carolinians to take a HARD look at Newt #impressed

Here's a story in a local paper about Newt's stop in Florence.

Newt 2012 has raised over one million dollars in October!

And as we have seen in recent days, the increased money is allowing for ramped-up efforts in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

Pictures from Newt's town hall in South Carolina today

Newt held a town hall in a Greenville, South Carolina, Chick-fil-A today.

Here are some pictures of the event at which Karen Tumulty, the national political correspondent for the Washington Post, said there were "[a]t least 400 people:

Newt 2012's South Carolina director, Adam Waldeck, tweeted "They've stopped letting people into the Chick-Fil-A in Greenville for @newtgingrich townhall" and sent this picture:

Andrew Bell of Newt's campaign posted this one:

Anna Haberlein of Gingrich Productions had this one:

Along with the picture, she tweeted:

Ever been 2 a chick fila that breaks fire code? That's what happens when @newtgingrich is in town!

The next four are from Tumulty:
Link.

Link.

Link.

Link.

When she sent that third picture, Tumulty tweeted:

Rapt crowd for @newtgingrich in greenville. place is too mobbed for me to see the candidate.

Here is a picture taken before the town hall:

"Neighbors for Newt: Randy Lavigne from Salem, NH"

On Newt.org today, the New Hampshire Communications Director for Newt 2012, Matthew LeDuc, told the "story of meeting Vietnam Veteran Randy Lavigne at a recent campaign stop in Concord, NH."

Like many in New Hampshire, [Lavigne] isn’t one to give away his vote freely. Also, having served in Vietnam from ’66 to ’67, he takes the NH Motto of Live Free or Die to heart. "That means I have the right to live as I see fit without unnecessary intrusion from our government."

...

Because I was running advance for Newt’s Team at this particular event, I happened to be outside the lobby when Newt and his wife, Callista, arrived. A few minutes later, glancing through the picture windows into the crowded lobby, I spotted Newt and Callista, standing beside Randy. They spoke for a good few minutes before shaking hands. Newt made his way to the podium to address the gathered crowd, and Randy sat and listened intently.

The following day I got to thinking about Randy. I was curious to know if he was able to ask his question, but also, I wondered if he got the answer he was looking for. I decided to call him and find out.

After reaching him on the phone and reintroducing myself, Randy told me, “I absolutely got to ask my question. I wanted to know if Newt was committed enough to run for the people.” Before I could ask if Randy got the response he was looking for, he added, “I am 100% convinced and without question, going to vote for Newt.”

Reaction to Newt's education speech

Here are some of the tweets sent out during Newt's speech in New York yesterday:

@newtgingrich most confident of all of the candidates in his opening remarks. #cbforum11 (link)

@NewtGingrich is the only candidate to get applause here at #CBForum11 (link)

Wow, all I can say is you really should watch @NewtGingrich's discussion at #CBForum11. I can't do it justice. (link)

@newtgingrich has the best ideas on education of any of the Republican candidates. iPad textbooks = genius. #tcot live.foxnews.com (link)

Agree with him or not, Newt has by far the most developed thinking on education among the four candidates. #cbforum11 (link)

Newt has come out swinging. LA teachers union one target. #cbforum11 (link)

Free societies have to think as a moving picture, not a Polaroid. Agree Newt. #CBForum11 (link)

Great moderating by Joel Klein and Paul Gigot. #NewtGingrich walks away the winner. #CBForum11 (link)

Newt is relaxed and seems to be enjoying himself. #cbforum11 (link)

On that last point, Newt's press secretary, R.C. Hammond, was in agreement, tweeting:

Newt appears to be having a ball tonight discussing education with the College Board in NYC. #CBForum11

(Video) Newt's interview with Neil Cauvto from Wednesday

Link.

(Video) Newt's speech at New York education forum Thursday

Link to Newt.org.

Newt speaking at an education forum; releases "A 21st Century Learning System."

Newt released his plans for "A 21st Century Learning System" on Newt.org today. The first two steps:

1. Learning is vital to maintain American civilization. As the Founding Fathers wrote in the Northwest Ordnance of 1787: "Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

Note that they saw education as vastly more than mere knowledge, and note the order they listed it in. We must restore values, discipline and American history to the classroom.

2. America is a learned civilization and every American, including immigrants, should learn American history and the principles of American self-government, productivity and prosperity. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1820: "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Every student must learn to read and much of what they read should reinforce American civilization.

From Politico:

Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are all expected to take part in a New York City-based education forum this week, at a panel moderated by former NYC schools chancellor and current News Corp. executive Joel Klein, officials said.

The presidential forum is called "Education and Election 2012." The Wall Street Journal's Paul Gigot is also moderating the event, which is being sponsored by the College Board and was first reported by CNN.

Santorum and Gingrich are expected in person, and Cain is expected, according to College Board officials, although it's unclear if he'll be there or conferenced in somehow.

Michelle Bachmann ended up participating in the event too.

I'll post some of the reaction from Twitter to the speech tomorrow.

(Video) Newt on The Early Show

Link.

(Audio) Newt's interview with Rusty Humphries from Wednesday

Link.

Another big Sarah Palin supporter endorses Newt

On Wednesday, Josh Painter, who has been one of the top pro-Palin blogger since 2008, endorsed Newt.

Tony Lee, who is covering the Presidential race for conservative weekly Human Events, sent out two tweets:

Wow. @Josh_Painter (!!) supports @NewtGingrich, has "Reagan-Palin conservatives for Newt" website (conservatives4Newt). This dude is FIERCE. (link)

Josh Painter is one of the most ferocious online Palin supporters. Now, he's supporting Newt. Got my attention. (link)

Here is the website Painter has started.

Go check out the website, but here is an excerpt:

What is clear, at least to this Palin supporter who has done his homework, is that when the records, policy positions and treatment of Sarah Palin by the announced GOP presidential candidates are stacked up next to each other, only Newt Gingrich stands out as the real Reagan conservative among them. There is no other logical second choice. I'm convinced an increasing number of Gov. Palin's supporters will eventually come to the same conclusion.

In fact, several other major Palin supporters have jumped on board Newt 2012.

Sheya wrote:

Newt Gingrich is a man of ideas, is smart, has solutions, knows how the world works, and has leadership qualities. No one can argue that Gingrich is not qualified to be president. I can see Gingrich in the situation room making tough decisions without needing 16 hours to adjust or calculate how it will affect him politically. A President Gingrich would be feared by dictators and respected by our allies.

Tennessee4Palin re-tweeted the above post, writing "Agreed!"

Coloradans4Palin wrote:

Newt Gingrich may be the closest thing we now have to Reagan. Someone with an optimistic spirit to lift the country out of its misery. Someone who knows how to practically renew and restore America. Someone who can rise above petty bickering and just plain fix things. And as a professor with carefully reasoned ideas, he may be the only person who will be able to lecture Obama instead of the other way around.

...

Gingrich is electable, conservative, and has a good track record to boot. Go Newt!

And I think it's safe to say that this won't be the last Palinista to support Newt.

(Newt also recently went on the radio with Stephen Bannon, the filmmaker of "The Undefeated.")

Add the Fox News poll to the list that have Newt in 3rd (and two have him in second)

Fox released their latest poll Wednesday that showed, as most every poll has, Newt in third place:

Herman Cain -- 24
Mitt Romney -- 20
Newt Gingrich -- 12
Rick Perry -- 10
Ron Paul -- 9

Cain's numbers have flattened out some, and the worse for him is yet to come. Most people still do not know about his pro-choice comments. (Luckily for him, the morning after his comments on CNN, Moammar Gadhafi was killed, which took up the news cycle.)

As it is, it might take until the next GOP debate on November 9 for the comments to get out to most voters. If Cain can survive his one-on-one debate with Newt on November 5, I don't see any way he can stay on top of the polls when his views on abortion are revealed.

Two polls earlier this month -- in West Virginia and Nebraska -- had Newt in second place.

A partial list of polls that have Newt in third:

-- Wisconsin.
-- Nevada (two).
-- Ohio.
-- Hawaii.
-- Iowa.
-- A national Rasmussen poll.
-- Florida.
-- A national PPP poll.

Details on the three New Hampshire hires by Newt 2012

From NBC News' Jo Ling Kent:

Newt Gingrich has hired an additional three full-time paid staffers to their New Hampshire campaign team in a continued effort to expand the former Speaker of the House's national campaign strategy, which comes in the midst of rising campaign contributions announced by Gingrich yesterday, sources tell NBC News.

The staffers joined Gingrich and recently hired New Hampshire State Director Andrew Hemingway yesterday when Gingrich filed for the New Hampshire primary. Their state headquarters will open next week in downtown Concord.

The campaign confirmed Alex Talcott will serve as the New Hampshire Coalitions Director. He recently worked on the Rep. Thaddeus McCotter campaign and is a public-relations principal at Vaura Consulting, LLC. He is a lawyer and teaches economics at Newbury College.

As reported yesterday, Matt LeDuc, who was the New Hampshire Director of Operations for Michele Bachmann, will serve as Gingrich's director of communications in the Granite State.

Pam Smith will be Gingrich's New Hampshire volunteer coordinator. Previously, she was a coordinator for NH 912 (a Tea Party-affiliated group) and worked on Congressman Frank Guinta's campaign.

Gingrich plans to open two more offices in New Hampshire in the near future and eventually expand into five across the state ahead of what is likely to be a January primary. The campaign says it will probably hire more staffers in the coming weeks. Major staff announcements are expected in Iowa soon as well.

The Washington Post just doesn't get it.

(Update: Since I first wrote this, Jo Ling Kent of NBC reports that Newt has hired three more New Hampshire staffers.)

Today, the Washington Post ran a story titled: "Newt Gingrich: He’s baaack!"

And Chris Cillizza proceeds to list some of the positives from the past few weeks -- the increased fundraising, the poll numbers -- but then he either shows his bias or his ignorance.

He claims Newt doesn't have much of an organization yet in the three early states, ignoring the recent hires in New Hampshire and South Carolina. And in Iowa, the organization is being set up as we speak.

Cillizza then claims that Newt's poll numbers in the early contest states aren't very good, citing the worst possible Iowa poll. He doesn't make any any mention of a recent poll that had Newt at 12% in the Hawkeye State, which was good for third place.

Something tells me Cillizza wouldn't cite the worst-looking poll for President Obama in a story about the latter's re-election chances.

(Video) Newt's press conference in Phoenix last week

Link.

(Video) More reactions from those in attendance at Iowa Faith and Freedom event

Link.



Link. She starts to discuss Newt at about the 1:58 mark.

Craig Robinson of TheIowaRepublican.com on Newt's speech Saturday

Robinson writes:

At times on Saturday night, Gingrich seemed like a man among boys when discussing the serious issues facing America. He not only had full command of the room, but also of the issues that he was addressing. While he shined when talking about fiscal issues and energy policy, he also artfully talked about key pro-family issues.

The reaction to Gingrich’s speech was unanimous. He more than impressed everybody that TheIowaRepublican.com talked to at the end of the event. One has to wonder where Gingrich would be today had he not stumbled out of the gate last spring. He is beginning to build an actual campaign team in Iowa. Sources tell TheIowaRepublican.com that he was interviewing potential Iowa staff while in Des Moines this weekend. Time will tell if he can take his good debate performances and at events like the one on Saturday night and become a real contender in Iowa.

Robinson reviews all the candidates performances -- he ranks Rick Perry as the winner, with Newt second -- but I will just quote his review of Herman Cain's night (in its' entirety):

Herman Cain’s campaign has turned into a comedy of errors. Cain arrived at the event site early, which would have allowed him ample opportunity to work the room of over 1000 caucus goers. Instead, Cain chose to stay in his tour bus parked near the event facility for close to an hour. When he did come in, it was only to speak and talk to the media for a bit. After that, he was on his way.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Cain’s campaign literature table sat empty while the majority of people entered the hall. By the time it was set up and staffed, it was too late to engage with attendees of the event. Not only did the Cain campaign miss out on people arriving, they also packed up and went home early. At 7:54 p.m., an hour and half before the event was over, the Cain campaign had cleared out. They did leave a few supporter cards, but most of those were still there as the final people left for the night.

It’s apparent that the Cain campaign simply doesn’t know what they should be doing. Having a veteran like Steve Grubbs on board should help. Grubbs is a veteran of numerous caucus campaigns. Yet Grubbs was nowhere to be found unless you were checking Facebook. While Cain’s campaign struggled with basic campaign fundamentals, Grubbs was living it up at a James Bond themed party in California with his wife. From the photos that were posted, it looked more fun than a candidate cattle call in Iowa.

As always, Cain’s speech was well delivered, but he did little to make up for his confusing statements on abortion that dominated the headlines last week. He devoted most of his speech to the topic of segregation. There is no problem with that if he had he tied it in with an issue like abortion. Had he done that, it would have been a powerful moment. Instead, he made a bus analogy, saying that he remembers signs on that instructed African Americans to sit in the back of the bus, and now he owns a bus with his face plastered on it.

It’s almost as if Cain didn’t realize that the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition forum was an opportunity to get past his recent abortion comments. Instead, he acted like being there was some sort of unpleasant chore that he was forced to do. Cain did nothing to help his campaign in Iowa. In fact, by basically ignoring the issue and the concerns of the people in the room, he may have inflicted more damage on his campaign than if he had not decided to show up.

(Video) An excerpt from Newt's town hall in Iowa Monday

Link.

Newt 2012 has already raised more money in October than in Q3

Earlier, Newt's campaign announced that it has raised more in this month than the previous three combined.

From MSNBC.com:

"As of today, [we] raised more money in October than we raised in the entire last quarter. And we have more donors as of 2 days ago than we've had all the last quarter," Gingrich said.

Campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond confirmed to NBC News that Gingrich "surpassed the $800,000 mark today." According to the campaign, they have received 11,200 donations this month at an average of $75. Three out of four donors are first-time contributors.

The extra money is allowing for ramped up operations in the early states:

"If we continue to improve at this pace, I think we'll be able to run a full-blown campaign and be totally competitive in terms of advertising and other things by the time we get to early January," Gingrich said.

“Money translates into ground game and ground game is important in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina,” Hammond said. The addition of paid Iowa staffers is forthcoming.

It's great news, but to keep the momentum going -- and to make the campaign more competitive in the early contests -- please consider visiting Newt.org/donate. Or, if you are not able to contribute more money, think about signing up to volunteer. (There will be a volunteer conference call Thursday night.)

A four minute video explaining why he is #withNewt

Link.

Newt 2012 to open another Iowa office soon?

The first Iowa office, located in Des Moines, is expected to be opened before the month is over.

The Daily Iowan reports:

Iowa caucus candidate Newt Gingrich may soon open a campaign office in Iowa City, he told The Daily Iowan at a town-hall meeting Monday, and campus Republicans say that's a good move.

"I think Iowa City is the smartest choice," said Natalie Ginty, the chairwoman of the Iowa Federation of College Republicans, who met with Gingrich staffers recently.

Campaign officials said Iowa City was an attractive location because even though Johnson County is overwhelmingly Democratic, the size of the county means there are many Republicans here.

"We just started thinking about [an eastern Iowa office] over the weekend," said Michael Krull, Gingrich's campaign coordinator. "Some of the [University of Iowa] College Republicans suggested it would be a great thing to have it in Iowa City, so we're definitely considering putting it there."

...

Johnson County has 18,428 registered Republicans, according to the Johnson County auditor's website. The county has the sixth largest concentration of registered Republicans in the state, according to the Iowa secretary of State's website.

Krull said he sat down with several Iowa Republican supporters over the weekend to discuss the best location for a second Iowa office. The campaign will soon open its first Iowa office in Des Moines, he said.

,,,

Johnson County Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Keettel said putting an office in Iowa City would be an excellent geographical choice.

Newt to Perry: Let's compare flat taxes

Today on Twitter, Newt sent this out:

.@GovernorPerry If u r going to bump plans w/ my friend Herman, then you can bump plans w/ me. Let's compare flat taxes.

Here's the link on Newt.org where you can compare the two.

Which would you like better: a 15% rate or 20%?

A poll in Wisconsin: Newt tied for third

Public Policy Polling also released their Wisconsin poll today, and Newt is tied for third in this one.

Newt's favorability rating in the Badger State is 50/38.

Only Cain (at 18%) beats Newt (16%) among those picking a second choice.

In what is becoming a trend, Cain's support is very shallow, with only 29% of those supporting him being "strongly committed" to him.

Newt's just under water with moderates (39/43) but has good numbers with somewhat conservative voters (52/36) and (55/36).

Newt's favorability among women is 53/32. He's at 48/43 among men. Will the media report on that? (As always, I already know the answer.)

Newt is above water with every age group but the 18-29 group, which I am going to assume is a fluke since no other poll has shown that wide a gap. (Oddly enough, he is tied with Cain among that age group for being the second choice of other candidates' supporters.)

Two Nevada polls show Newt in third place

Yesterday, Magellan Strategies released their 2012 Presidential poll of Nevada. Newt comes in third at 16%

Newt has a 63/26 favorability, according to their survey.

Today, Public Policy Polling released their survey. Newt gets 15% support, good for third.

Newt's favorability in it is 66/25. Cain is at 65/21 and Romney's is 63/27. Those numbers suggest Newt's overall support has a lot of room to grow.

Among those who consider themselves in the Tea Party movement, Newt's favorability is 85/10; Cain is at 80-13.

Newt's numbers across-the-board: among very conservative voters, he is at 73/19; among somewhat conservative, 70/21; among moderates, 46/44.

Among men, Newt is at 72/24. Women view it favorably 60/27. He is well above water with all age groups.

Newt is above water with every other candidate's supporters but Jon Huntsman (46-54) and Ron Paul's (33-54). That suggests as Bachmann, Santorum, and others continue to falter -- even drop out -- Newt is in prime position to get those voters on his side. (For Santorum supporters, Newt is at 85/7.)

And in fact, Newt is listed as the second choice by a plurality of those surveyed, with 23% naming him as their second pick.

So good news again for Newt. What needs to be remembered is that because of timing, neither of these polls likely reflect the negative reaction Cain has receieved over his abortion comments as well as his willingness to negoatiate with terrorists.

As those issues become better known, Cain's numbers will get dragged down.

Newt's op-ed on a flat tax in an Iowa newspaper

Newt wrote an op-ed in the Quad City Times today about his support of a flat tax. The whole piece, which can be read on Newt.org, is worth reading, but I will only quote the part specifically on the flat tax:

The key to a robust recovery in job creation is to simplify the tax code and maximize capital investment, which begins with eliminating the capital gains tax and the death tax, reducing the corporate tax to 12.5 percent, and 100 percent expensing of all new capital equipment purchases.

These tax changes will liberate private capital to move quickly to the most productive investments, thereby accelerating economic growth. This is the opposite of the failed model practiced by the Obama administration, which is bureaucracies steering taxpayer stimulus dollars to allegedly “shovel ready” jobs and politically connected firms such as Solyndra.

At the same time as we liberate capital to create new jobs, we must liberate taxpayers from the IRS tax code, which is why my jobs proposals also call for an optional flat tax of 15 or less%. All workers and businesses would have the freedom to choose each year to file their income taxes either under the new flat tax option with limited deductions or under the current U.S. income tax code. Anyone who strongly favors a deduction or credit under the federal government’s current complex income tax system would have the choice to keep filing that way.

This optional flat tax system will create a new personal deduction for every adult of $10,000 to $12,000 (double for married couple), which would be above the established poverty level at $40,000 to $48,000. The current $1,000 tax credit for each child age sixteen or younger would also apply, as would the current earned income tax credit (EITC).

An optional flat tax reform will be simple: tax returns can be done on one sheet of paper. Subtract from income a standard deduction and deductions for charity and home ownership, multiply the result by the fixed single rate of taxation of at most 15%, and the process is over.

The optional flat tax could save taxpayers an estimated $400 billion each year in costs of record keeping, paying for tax advice, and filling out complicated tax returns. This savings doesn’t even account for countless hours of aggravation and worry and the sheer complexity of tax compliance. These tax compliance savings are the functional equivalent of a permanent, pro-growth tax cut and will provide a substantial boost to annual growth rate.

This concept of an optional flat tax would give American taxpayers an opportunity to choose simplicity versus complexity and a single rate over a lot of deductions.

Because the flat tax is optional, it does not raise taxes on a single person or unfairly impact seniors, lower income workers, or the poor.

Once we combine these pro growth tax reforms with my other reform proposals for welfare reform, social security, and spending, we will experience a stunning and swift turnaround in the economy.

Alex Pappas on DailyCaller.com writes of Newt's long-standing supporter of the flat tax:

According to Gingrich’s campaign, in 1997, as Speaker of the House, he said, “There are things I would like to do like a flat tax with virtual elimination of the IRS.”

In 2005, he wrote in Steve Forbes’ book about the flat tax that, “I believe there is a real opportunity for a similar grass roots revolution imposing the flat tax on Washington. As people learn how much money and time they can save through a flat tax, they are going to demand a simple alternative to the complexity and uncertainty of the Internal Revenue Service.”

In a 2008 National Review op-ed, Gingrich wrote that, “An optional flat tax would save taxpayers more than $100 billion per year and reduce compliance costs by over 90 percent. This is a stimulus package that would have an immediate effect on our American economy.”

A big Sarah Palin supporter endorses Newt

An excerpt from a post by another Sarah Palin supporter who is now endorsing Newt:

Newt Gingrich is a man of ideas, is smart, has solutions, knows how the world works, and has leadership qualities. No one can argue that Gingrich is not qualified to be president. I can see Gingrich in the situation room making tough decisions without needing 16 hours to adjust or calculate how it will affect him politically. A President Gingrich would be feared by dictators and respected by our allies.

Sure, Gingrich may be old school but sometimes it is old school that we need. In today’s climate where the world is falling apart in front of our eyes, we need ourselves some old school, someone that knows how the system works and how the game is played. This is not a cycle where we can afford to focus on style or on making history or proving a point. There is too much going on in the world to worry about what someone did in their personal life over a decade ago, especially when the true facts are sketchy at best. In this election cycle, people won’t care about the drama; people will care about the issues and if Gingrich ever has a shot at winning, it is this cycle. With the current deck we’ve been dealt, Gingrich is the ace in the pack.

Tennessee4Palin re-tweeted the above post, writing "Agreed!"

Another Palin blog wrote today:

A growing number of Sarah Palin supporters, having finally come to terms with her decision not to run for president in 2012, are now beginning to give Newt Gingrich a second look

(Audio) Newt's radio interview with Stephen Bannon

Bannon was the filmmaker of "The Undefeated," which was about Sarah Palin's career.

Link to Part 1.



Link to Part 2.

Robert Costa of National Review on Newt's Comeback

Two excerpts:

“There is plenty of room,” says R. C. Hammond, the campaign spokesman. He bets that by early January, when New Hampshire and Iowa are blanketed by snow, Gingrich’s “tortoise” campaign will inch ahead.

That optimism is backed up by cash, Hammond says. In the past week, the campaign has raised more money — nearly $200,000 — than it collected in July, the month the campaign nearly collapsed. The capital infusion has enabled Gingrich to hire early-state staffers, such as tea-party leader Andrew Hemingway in New Hampshire, and produce a slew of Web videos.

Wait and see -- that is the Gingrich mantra. In coming days, his team does not expect him to go negative against Cain, the latest Republican hotshot, but to poke holes, in a friendly manner, in aspects of the 9-9-9 tax plan. When Perry unveils his flat-tax proposal this week, look for Gingrich to trumpet his own flat-tax plan, which he released earlier this year. He’ll also likely challenge Perry to explain specifics, such as his chosen rate.

Meanwhile, finally, the campaign will spend some coin, opening offices in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. An outpost in Miami will expand, as will the operation in Atlanta, where the campaign’s main call center is housed.

And to the joy of political junkies, Gingrich will join Cain for a one-on-one discussion at a tea-party forum in Texas next month, an event the campaign hopes will spark tea-party voters to reconsider, on a policy basis, their Cain support. The battle for the “non-Romney” slot in the primary, at least in Newt World, has only begun.

That last part -- the one-on-one with Cain next month -- I had not read about before, and it should be a great event.

The article is too long and too packed full of great details for me to quote everything worth quoting, so please read the whole thing.

Reaction from four attendees of the Iowa Faith and Freedom event

Link.

Some more of the reaction on Twitter to Newt's speech Saturday Night

Tony Lee of Human Events

Newt says Obama has energy policies that makes perfect sense in a Berkeley classroom but no sense in the real world!!! So True!!!! (link)

Gotta love Newt citing Montesquieu, Judicial Reform Act, TJ. Newt touches 14th Ad re personhood (re life) but not "jurisdiction thereof" (link)

Craig Robinson of TheIowaRepublican.com:

Newt strong at IFFC forum.

Gwen Ecklund, who is the Crawford County, Iowa, GOP chair:

It's pretty noisy in the back of the room as people leave early at #IFFC forum. @newtgingrich hit the grand slam tonight. #iacaucus

Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines-Register:

In audition w conservative Iowans, 6 candidates worked to outdo each other.Gingrich, simply put, was on fire.

Iowan Karen Fesler:

@newtgingrich as always doing terrific job. (link)

@newtgingrich giving outstanding lecture on the judiciary (link)

Jedidiah Bila, conservative columnist:

@newtgingrich really nailed it tonight. Very solid.

O. Kay Henderson, News Director of Radio Iowa:

Gingrich seems to get loudest applause of night

Dale Davis:

@Newt2012HQ I want to congratulate Speaker Gingrich on a superior performance last night in Iowa, at the Faith & Freedom forum.

Heath Reeves:

@Newt2012HQ GREAT speech in Iowa last night. I am sending video link to everyone I know and would encourage others to do the same.

Headline: "Iowa Surprise: Gingrich Steals the Evangelical Show "

A portion from the Ankeny-Patch's coverage of Saturday's event in Iowa

In a night that had been chugging along predictably at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s presidential candidate forum, suddenly a surprise was born: Newt Gingrich stole the show.

With the exception of Mitt Romney, all of the major candidates for the Republican nomination were at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, each taking the podium individually for brief speeches and then a few questions.

Herman Cain spoke first. Then Michele Bachmann, followed by Rick Perry.
A nice greeting for all of them, of course. And about half of the 800 people in attendance stood and applauded as those candidates left the stage.

But then came Gingrich.

President Obama has driven the country into a ditch, the former Speaker of the House said, and the economy is weakening the country in every possible way.

“The process of recovering economically is not that difficult,” Gingrich told the crowd. “On election night, when it’s clear Barack Obama has been defeated, the recovery will begin.” (Cheers.)

Later, he attacked “liberal, activist” judges for keeping abortion legal. (Louder cheers.)

Then, he promised that his first signed executive order as president would be to eliminate all White House czars. (Even louder cheers.)

And, as he left the stage, Gingrich implored the crowd not to be for him, but with him, because “we have eight hard years ahead of us!” (The loudest applause and cheers of the evening.)

“I’m not surprised,” Gingrich told Patch following the event. “I think any time I have a chance to present unedited, it’s effective. … This is a pretty sophisticated crowd. They don’t just want a slogan or an opinion; they want to know you can get it done.

...

[Gingrich] was the only candidate who seemed to capture the passion of a normally impassioned group, and the clout of the Christian right in Iowa is substantial.

Here were just a couple of the positive tweets:

Peter Hamby of CNN sent out this one:

Newt gets the loudest reception at Faith and Freedom forum so far. And people begin to file out before Ron Paul speaks.

Jedidiah Bila, the conservative columnist:

@newtgingrich really nailed it tonight. Very solid. is.gd/FU8mHw

(Video) Newt's town hall in Phoenix

Link.

(Video) Newt's speech and Q&A session from Iowa Faith and Freedom

Link to the speech.



Link to Q&A session.