Wright e-mails to concur that Gingrich may now be the best bet for those of us carrying the Anybody But Romney banner:
I am in total agreement with you. My preferred candidate was Paul Ryan – still is, but Newt is clearly the most qualified of any of the announced candidates, of any party. Unfortunately, he suffers from foot in mouth disease, the MSM will certainly not let his history go, particularly the govt shutdown during the Clinton administration, and I didn’t like his Paul Ryan putdown early in the campaign season. CW wisdom says Romney is most electable, and that may be the case, but if he is the nominee, I will certainly be holding my nose as I cast my ballot. The current circular firing squad is pretty depressing.
BTW, I got a kick out of Sid Hartman’s column pimping for a new stadium. He roundly castigated the Republicans for insisting on a referendum, and talked about all the senior citizen shut-ins who will be denied their beloved Vikings because all the GOP cares about is money.
It's actually amazing to me that in a time when governments on every level-national, state, and local-are essentially broke we're even considering spending millions of dollars subsidizing a professional sports stadium. And that those willing to point out that the emperor has no dough are criticized for not joining the progress parade.
Meanwhile, more evidence is emerging to support the notion that Gingrich's momentum is real. Gingrich big winner at key Iowa event:
For days, there's been talk of a Newt Gingrich boomlet in the Republican presidential race here in Iowa. After Friday night's Reagan Dinner at Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines, that Gingrich boomlet talk might turn into talk of a Gingrich boom.
Five candidates -- Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul -- addressed a crowd of about 1,000 GOP faithful at the state Republican party's biggest fundraiser of the year. In brief interviews after the dinner -- the only question was which speaker did the best job -- audience members were unanimous: Gingrich, Gingrich, Gingrich.
"It was Newt," said Chad Kleppe of Waukee, Iowa. "I think he's the smartest one in the field."
"Gingrich knocked it out of the park," said Earlene Nordstrom of Fort Dodge, Iowa.
"Newt," said Tim Heldt of Johnston. "The energy in the room picked up. It didn't feel like a stump speech."
"He is so good," said Becky Ervin of Urbandale. "I want to see a debate between him and Obama."
That's a desire that more and more Republicans are starting to share.
