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Newt Gingrich (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain) |
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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has quietly positioned himself for a comeback to head the Republican Party as early as 2008.
GOP sources said Mr. Gingrich does not plan to run for president, but intends to be available as the savior of conservatives dismayed by candidates who seek to move the party to the left in the aftermath of George W. Bush’s presidency. Over the last few months, Mr. Gingrich has become the favorite of conservatives and has outlined a new vision for the GOP that seeks for the party to return to the moral clarity of the late President Ronald Reagan.
“I believe that whatever the results of the November elections, Newt will become a major force in the GOP for 2008," a senior Republican Party strategist said.
Mr. Gingrich has already become the choice of conservatives and the Christian Right. He has won the Human Events presidential straw poll for September, topping the list for the second month in a row.
The achievement marked a major boost for Mr. Gingrich. For much of 2006, Mr. Gingrich trailed Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, in the poll, but last month Mr. Gingrich led the House member by 31 to 17 percent.
Among conservatives, Mr. Gingrich is more popular than senior allies of President Bush and members of his administration. In the Human Events poll, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dropped to sixth place with 6.68 percent. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's younger brother, reached 3.37 percent in the presidential straw poll.
GOP sources said Mr. Gingrich decided to raise his profile in 2006, with the publication of a weekly newsletter and the gathering of a brain trust. Over the last few months, he has been campaigning for Republican candidates and commenting on both domestic and foreign issues.
On several issues, Mr. Gingrich has taken positions that differ with that of the administration. While Mr. Bush has urged diplomacy to deal with a nuclear North Korea, Mr. Gingrich has been calling for regime change that echoed the Reagan era and the president's efforts with then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the late Pope John Paul II to undermine the communist regimes in Eastern Europe.
"When you look at a country such as North Korea, you see tremendous poverty," Mr. Gingrich said in a radio interview last week. "You have to believe that there are thousands of people who might want to collaborate with the West. We're remarkably bureaucratic. Rather than work with the North Korean government, we ought to be cooperating with those willing to smuggle food into the country. We have to recognize what a bad dictatorship this is."
GOP sources said Mr. Gingrich will most likely not run for president in 2008. But they said he would seek to represent the conservative wing of the party, the endorsement of which would be regarded as crucial for any GOP nominee.
"It's obvious that in 2008, the party will move away from the Bush era and will be looking for a change in direction," another GOP source said. "I think Newt will be in a position to lay out a strategy that would appeal to both conservatives and old-line Republicans." | 
