Gingrich rises to the fore in US Republican debate
Buoyed by opinion polls that gave him a four percent lead over the former Massachusetts governor, Gingrich, whose campaign had been all but written off a few months ago, came out of the blocks quickly on national security. Asked the first question on the Patriot Act, which extended counter-terrorism search and surveillance powers in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, he set the tone by sounding tough and authoritative. “I’d look at strengthening it because I think the dangers are literally that great,” Gingrich said, adding that there should be “an honest understanding that all of us will be in danger for the rest of our lives.”
During a two-hour debate at DAR Constitution Hall, just a few blocks from the White House, the candidates clashed repeatedly, disagreeing on how to handle several of the main global threats to America. DAR = Daughters of the American Revolution for all of you who are unfamiliar. In the topsy-turvy Republican race, it is Gingrich that has emerged as the main threat to Romney, who looks like the man to beat as he has built a financial and organizational advantage founded on a slick campaign machine. Gingrich must show more staying power than Bachmann, Perry and retired pizza executive Herman Cain, who have all surged to the front of the field only to wither in the full glare of the presidential campaign spotlight. A poll of nationwide Republican voters released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University showed Gingrich leading with 26 percent support, compared to 22 percent for Romney. A CNN poll had Gingrich ahead by the same margin. In his debut as nationwide poll leader — the important state-by-state polls show a more mixed picture — Gingrich risked angering the Republican base by suggesting he would offer an amnesty to long-term illegal immigrants. “If you’ve been here 25 years and you got three kids and two grandkids, you’ve been paying taxes and obeying the law, you belong to a local church, I don’t think we’re going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out,” he said.
Gingrich could prove Romney’s toughest challenge yet as he retains ties to the party establishment and is polling strongly in Iowa, the first state to vote when the Republican nomination battle begins in earnest on January 3. The 68-year-old veteran of Congress was a central figure in US politics in the 1990s, rising to become House speaker as Republicans turned the tide on 40 years of majority rule by the Democratic Party. But he fell from grace and resigned in 1998 after losing a battle of wills over a government shutdown with then president Bill Clinton. The confessed adulterer has divorced twice and left his first wife following her treatment for cancer — actions seen as potentially fatal to his chances of winning over social conservatives, a key Republican voting bloc. Gingrich’s campaign was almost over before it started when staff walked out en masse in June as he went on a Greek cruise vacation with his wife. The candidate, in unusually jovial form after Tuesday night’s debate, paraphrased writer Mark Twain’s famous line, saying: “The reports of my death were premature.”
It’ll be 2012 for crying out loud! Who the hell cares about his adultery and/or past divorces. Newt is the only one who knows how to get the Country back on track. That is all that matters now. We also need a leader who is extremely knowledgable about the history of America for once. That should actually be a prerequisite for the job! This Country has much more important things to worry about like job creation for one! At least you know he won’t be wasting tax payers money to receive sexual favors from White House Staff while supposedly on duty and pretending to be a “happily married man”. Nothing is worse than that! The fact that Bill and Hill still have careers in politics is what people should be shocked about, if anything.