A poll was released yesterday of Republicans in Mississippi that showed Newt Gingrich of all people leading in the presidential primary to be held in that state. Gingrich had a three point lead over Herman Cain. I believe that this is the first poll for the 2012 election in which Gingrich has held a lead. Newt has been moving up in the polls in a steady fashion, but the pundits have all told us that he could never win. After all, Newt started out his campaign with what could only be called a series of disasters. First he spoke out against part of the Ryan budget plan. Then most of his campaign staff quit in a dispute over how the race would be run. Lastly, we heard that Newt had a large charge account at Tiffany's. The combined effect of these events was to drive Gingrich into the low single digits in the polls. And then something miraculous happened: there were a series of debates and Gingrich spoke with authority and wisdom about the problems of the country in a way that none of the other candidates could match. Each time there is one of these extravaganzas, Gingrich has displayed the tremendous knowledge that he has of how poorly the federal government functions and about how Obama has failed to improve things at all. Indeed, Newt comes forward with proposed solutions that are both clear and sensible, something that has been rare in recent years. Instead of the political posturing, Gingrich has been actually offering solutions and people have been listening. At first, Gingrich was viewed as a smart guy who had ideas but who could not possibly be president. A good friend of mine said he saw Gingrich as leading a think tank but not a country. Now, people are waking up to the idea that Gingrich would make a truly fine president.
Last night, Gingrich was on the Center Seat series on Special Report on Fox News. Each of the GOP candidates has been interviewed on that show, although Romney has just not been able to pick a date yet. Gingrich came across with his usual clarity, but he did something that you just never see. Gingrich was asked about an ad that he taped some years ago with Nancy Pelosi discussing the problem and global warming and the need to deal with it. Instead of deflecting the question or talking in generalities, Gingrich just said that doing the ad was one of the dumbest things he had ever done. That's right; he admitted that he had made a mistake. Since we have now had three years of Obama who does not admit that he has ever made a mistake, it was refreshing to see someone honest like Gingrich.
We also just got to see the Gingrich/Cain debate on CSPAN during which we got one and a half hour of discussion from the two candidates on just the subject of entitlements. Gingrich and Cain both gave us substance; you cannot limit yourself to soundbites if you have to talk for 45 minutes each on one topic. I have no idea how many people have seen the CSPAN debate, but anyone who has knows the truth depth of knowledge that Gingrich possesses.
In short, I think that this Mississippi poll is just the first of many that will show Gingrich in the lead. He can still blow the whole thing and the party could still chose another candidate, but Newt is now clearly in the mix.
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