Only Gingrich Fits The Gop Bill
Let’s fast-forward to a crisp morning after Labor Day 1995. On the Capitol steps rumble 200 triumphant House Republicans. They’re waving the obligatory American flags.
In the middle is a familiar muffin face under a shock of gray hair.
“We’ve done our work, kept our promises …, ” says Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., as the honorables stomp and cheer.
” … and so today I announce my candidacy for the president of the United States.”
Come on, Newt for president?
Motormouth, mercurial, liberal-baiting Newt storming to the GOP nomination? Newt head-tohead against Bill Clinton in 1996?
Sounds like fantasy now.
Sure, some unlikely events - the fade of ‘96 party front-runners Bob Dole and/or Phil Gramm - would have to click.
But the scenario of a Newt charge for the White House percolates among Republicans. And inside Gingrich’s teeming brain.
When Newt appears on talk shows, which he seems to do every 10 minutes, he always leaves an escape hatch when asked about running for president.
Here’s Gingrich on ABC’s “Good Morning” show Monday: “I’m not including myself or excluding myself (from the ‘96 field). It’s a fancy gray zone. It’s unlikely. Nobody should get their hopes up.”
Asked if Gingrich should run, the studio audience roared yes. Said moderator Harry Smith, “A lot of Newties here.”
Newties?
My guess is that eventually Gingrich will find a lunge for the White House irresistible.
And I think he should run, giving the country a clear-cut debate in a ‘96 contest against Clinton. When you’re hot, you’re hot. For six months Gingrich has been a sizzling phenomenon.
Until Bill Clinton came alive after the Oklahoma City bombing, some Americans thought Newt was president. Gingrich’s glitzy, prime-time spiel at the end of the Republicans’ 100 days was more compelling than any Clinton performance.
“Gingrich acts more like the president than the president himself,” sighed GOP contender Lamar Alexander.
Bill Bennett, ex-Bush Cabinet member who shied away from a ‘96 campaign, says pressure will mount on Gingrich.
“I think it’s probable Newt will be pushed into the decision of running, to get out in front,” says Bennett. “In some ways, the debate is between Gingrich and Clinton, their differing visions on the country’s future.”
Exactly.
Granted, not everyone thrills to a Gingrich bugle call. His negative ratings are high. His yackety-yak style is abrasive.
But there are a lot of Gingrich guerrillas - OK, Newties - who vote in Republican primaries. Same government-hating, lib-despising folks who tune in to Rush Limbaugh.
My impression is that dittoheads are bored with Dole, Gramm and other Republican ‘96 runners; they’re dull vanilla compared with Newt’s raw meat.
Sure, destiny must lend a hand. The House ethics panel must give Gingrich a clean bill of health. Agonizing over five complaints against Gingrich’s money machine, it may nitpick longer than the O.J. jury.
My guess: Newt walks.
A longer shot is Gingrich escaping as folk hero from ‘95 budget brawls, which he foresees as “the most horrendous summer of my life.” Only Newt’s slickest guile can cut Medicare without a seniorcitizen riot.
He could become Dr. Pain.
Either Dole or Gramm must stumble in polls. Not impossible. Dole, handicapped by age, insider image and Senate leader’s conflicts, is ‘96 frontrunner only by default. Gramm doesn’t light the Christian Right’s fires.
Only Gingrich has the passion, ideas and gutripping anger to turn the Republican convention into Newtie pandemonium. That’s bedlam he may not resist: back-bench rebel to White House contender in two years.
Notice that Gingrich is clearing the decks, disconnecting himself from GOPAC, finishing his big-buck books.
Mainstream Republicans may be horrified. But Newt may be a White House missile by Labor Day.
In truth, considering the country’s mood and Gingrich’s ego, I’d be surprised if Newt doesn’t run.
I can’t conjure a more dramatic presidential race - a showdown for the country’s soul - than Gingrich vs. Clinton.
Save a seat at the first debate. Get it on, Bill and Newt.
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