The Gingrich Connection

In today's WSJ, Dorothy Rabinowitz opines on Why Gingrich Could Win:

Whoever his competitors are in Iowa and beyond, Mr. Gingrich faces a hard fight for the nomination. His greatest asset lies in his capacity to speak to Americans as he has done, with such potency, during the Republican debates. No candidate in the field comes close to his talent for connection. There's no underestimating the importance of such a power in the presidential election ahead, or any other one.

His rise in the polls suggests that more and more Republicans are absorbing that fact, along with the possibility that Mr. Gingrich's qualifications all 'round could well make him the most formidable contender for the contest with Barack Obama.

Break out those "It's Happening" t-shirts Saint Paul. I have a feeling the Gingrich bandwagon is going to be getting crowded in the days ahead.

Vote No

Reminder to residents of Independent School District 834 (Stillwater and surrounding areas), there is an election today. Or, I should say, a referendum, as there are no candidates up for office, only a series of ballot question about once again increasing funding for the government school system.

The campaigning on behalf of a funding increase has been quiet this year. We’ve only received a couple of expensively produced mailing pieces from the school district testifying to their extraordinary accomplishments despite their poverty level funding levels. As annoying as having my tax dollars spent for public relations pieces lobbying for more tax dollars is, this approach has been a pleasant change from the threats, vandalism, and violence perpetrated the pro-levy campaign just a couple of years ago, the last time a funding increase was on the ballot.

The only counter campaigning I’ve seen was a couple of hand painted signs, posted on telephone polls in the neighborhood, saying simply: “Vote no”. This message was contested within 24 hours, on the same telephone polls, with hand painted signs saying: “Vote yes”. Picture here, courtesy of Patch.com.

On Sunday I noticed the voice of a third constituency had joined the conversation, with another hand painted sign saying: “On what?” Given this level of engagement with the issues, I take these to be the noble independent voters who refuse to be categorized by simplistic ideological labels. As with all elections in America these days, it is on their votes that the fate of the referendum hangs.


The sample ballot is provided here. As a service to the “On what?” army, excerpts and expert commentary follow:

SCHOOL DISTRICT BALLOT QUESTION 1 REVOKING EXISTING REFERENDUM REVENUE AUTHORIZATION; APPROVING NEW AUTHORIZATION

Note the term “Revoking”. That is a good reminder that the voters passed a referendum a couple of years ago greatly increasing funding, that was supposed to run through the 2014. I’m sure many voters took the time frame in consideration when they made their voting decision. The trade off of a tax increase for the chance to at least lock in the price for, in this case, 7 years. But it turns out the school district had an option to tear that up and demand more favorable terms. They're the CC Sabathia of school districts.

The board of Independent School District No. 834 (Stillwater Area Public Schools) has proposed to revoke the school district's existing referendum revenue authorization of $996.57 per pupil and to replace that authorization with a new authorization of $1,465 per pupil.

A request for a 47% increase in funding for an already rich school district is preposterous under any circumstances. But in the context of the supporting community over the past few years, with private sector wages declining and property values plummeting, this is one for the Chutzpah Hall of Fame.

The only saving grace is that this is a fixed amount and the education bureaucracy will have to live with a 47% increase and ONLY a 47% increase for the next seven years. Right?

The proposed new referendum revenue authorization would increase each year by the rate of inflation and be applicable for seven years unless otherwise revoked or reduced as provided by law.

Automatic inflation indexing? Social security recipients don’t even receive that. So the $1,465 per pupil is the entry level price, guaranteed to go up every year. Nice to know that if inflation takes off and we’re paying more for everything, the school district will be immune from any negative effects.

Shall the increase in the revenue proposed by the board of Independent School District No. 834 be approved?

Nice of you to ask. NO.

Next question.

SCHOOL DISTRICT BALLOT QUESTION 2 APPROVAL OF CAPITAL PROJECT LEVY AUTHORIZATION

The board of Independent School District No. 834 (Stillwater Area Public Schools) has proposed a capital project levy authorization of 1.25495% times the net tax capacity of the school district. The money raised by this authorization will provide funds for the purchase and installation of computers, printers, classroom audiovisual equipment and peripherals, interactive whiteboards, learning management systems, productivity and curriculum software, and staff development.

According to the outgoing Superintendent of ISD 834, the benefit of this increase is:

... it would provide more personalized learning and improved technology device-to-student ratios, according to Nelson.

Because nothing says “personalized learning” like more reliance on technology devices.

The proposed capital project levy authorization will raise approximately $982,300 for taxes payable in 2012, the first year it is to be levied, and would be authorized for seven years. The estimated total cost of the projects to be funded over that time period is approximately $6,876,100. The projects to be funded have received a positive review and comment from the Commissioner of Education. Shall the capital project levy authorization proposed by the board of Independent School District No. 834 be approved?

Let me think about that for a moment, NO.

Final question.

SCHOOL DISTRICT BALLOT QUESTION 3 APPROVAL OF SCHOOL DISTRICT BOND ISSUE

Shall the board of Independent School District No. 834 (Stillwater Area Public Schools) be authorized to issue its general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $18,375,000 to provide funds for the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, including the renovation of existing and construction of new science labs at the Stillwater Area High School and the Oak-Land Junior High School facilities; the construction of new Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) labs at the Stillwater Area High School and the Oak-Land Junior High School facilities; and the updating of the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems at various school facilities.

Let me answer this 105 word run on sentence with a single word answer. NO.

Before you condemn me for being hasty, let’s recall the real story behind this $18 million request, again from the outgoing Superintendent:

Nelson pointed out that science labs are presently inadequate, and the state is adding science requirements for graduation. “You’ve got lab stations built for eight students and you’ve got 12 students standing around with gas and fire and chemicals,” he said.

A mere $18 million to prevent the impending firebombing 33% of the student population? Tempting, but .... NO.

You citizens asking “on what?” now have your information. It’s time to do your duty. Polls are open until 8pm. Good luck and may we all live to see the morning.

Al Franken For President

Dan McGrath on how Keith Ellison (my Congressman!) want to export Minnesota's loose voting laws:

Ellison says his proposals are needed to "curb voter suppression" and protect the rights of young, elderly and minority voters. But while more than 140 recent convictions for voter fraud are documented in Minnesota alone, there's never been more than speculation about modern voter ID or registration laws disenfranchising voters.

In fact, voter ID laws have been challenged in the U.S. and state Supreme Courts in recent years, and have been upheld as constitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy, who initially blocked Georgia's voter ID law with a temporary restraining order based upon the hyperbolic speculation of mass voter disenfranchisement by the League of Women Voters, Common Cause and the NAACP, wound up upholding the law after hearing the evidence.

Murphy found that the plaintiffs' failure, despite their efforts, to uncover anyone "'who can attest to the fact that he/she will be prevented from voting' provides significant support for the conclusion that the Photo ID requirement does not unduly burden the right to vote."

The net effect of Ellison's two bills would be to allow anyone and everyone to cast a ballot on Election Day without any mechanism to verify identity, citizenship and eligibility, or that people live in the state and precinct where they are voting. This is Minnesota's system.

While Ellison wants to impose Minnesota's flawed system on the rest of the country, there are on-going efforts to reform it here including some minimal requirements for identification at the polls. Ellison would describe such as efforts as "oppressive, "discriminatory," and no doubt "racist," but polls consistently show that around 70% of Minnesotans support such common sense measures to protect the integrity of the electoral process.

Ellison's proposals will likely get nowhere as they're more for show than anything else. We can hope that they will at least lead to some rational discussion of voter ID laws that move beyond the hysterical rhetoric employed by Ellison and other ID opponents.

A Better Cain Defense?

Another day, another claim of sexual harassment against Herman Cain. His blanket denial of “I never did anything to anyone at any time” is starting to get a bit threadbare.

Maybe he should try this approach instead, as articulated by Chris Rock in 1996:

What is sexual harassment?! What's the difference between sexual harassment and just being an idiot? I mean, if my father didn't harass my mother, I wouldn't be here!

I understand some sexual harassment. if a man is your boss and says, "Hey, sleep with me, or you're fired." That's sexual harassment. And that's the only thing that's sexual harassment! Everything else falls under "Just trying to get laid." You can't put a man in jail for that! I don't care how hard he tries, that's all he was trying to do! Anita Hill started this whole thing. It's all about looks, you know? Because if Clarence Thomas looked like Denzel Washington, this would have never happened! She'd be all, "Oh, stop it, Clarence, you nasty! Your fine self!" So, what's sexual harassment, when an ugly man wants some? "Oh, he ugly! Call the police! Call the authorities!"

No Echo

The 75% of Republican voters who are less than thrilled about the prospects of having Mitt Romney at the top of the GOP ticket now have a web site dedicated to the idea that the party (and the country) will be better off without Romney as the nominee. The site is called Not Mitt Romney and one of its founders is John Hawkins from Right Wing News. In a post at that site he explains why:

Is Romney’s strength supposed to be his “electability?” What makes anyone think he’s particularly electable? Even most conservatives don’t like Mitt; so what makes people think independents will love him? Slick, moderate northerners like Mitt usually run weak in the South; so he’s more likely than the other top tier candidates to lose North Carolina and Virginia. He also brings no new states to the table and is even guaranteed to lose his own home state of Massachusetts. While it’s genuinely great that Mitt has business experience, it certainly didn’t make him into an effective governor in Massachusetts where his signature issue, Romneycare, was a disastrous failure.

So, what’s left? Inevitability? It’s funny because that’s what was said about Harriet Miers. Remember? She’s been selected, Bush isn’t going to withdraw her nomination; so you might as well give up on getting a real conservative like Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court. How about the McCain/Kennedy amnesty bill? We were told it was a done deal and that it was a waste of time to even fight. Yet, when conservatives said “no” and stuck to our guns, we turned the tide and stopped amnesty. We can do it again and in reality, it’s easier to stop Romney. Today, if it were just a three way race between Romney and any combination of Cain, Gingrich, and Perry, Romney would be in third place each time because the overwhelming majority of conservatives don’t want him as the nominee.

That’s why we want to speak out.

A lot of conservatives think exactly the way that we do, but they don’t want to take any flack for hammering Romney, think Romney is inevitable, or aren’t in a position where they can risk making the potential Republican nominee for the presidency angry. Well, we can speak out on their behalf and we think that after the Tea Party helped deliver the strongest performance for the Republican Party in 50 years, it’s a mistake to go backwards and select a guy like Mitt Romney as our nominee.

The 2012 presidential election must present voters with a clear choice of two possible future paths for the country. One is to continue to move toward the European model of faith in government over faith in people. The other is to seek to return to the principles of limited government and individual liberty. So far, Mitt Romney has shown no evidence that he is ready, willing or able to make the sorts of strong arguments for the latter vision that are needed to carry the day. If there ever was a time for not settling this is it.

Common Cause?

An editorial in today's WSJ says that if there is one thing the OWS and Tea Party faithful should be able to come together it's an end to corporate welfare:

As important as this economic damage is the corrosive effect that corporate welfare has on public trust in government. Americans understand that powerful government invariably favors the powerful, who have the means and access to massage Congress and the bureaucracy that average citizens do not. This really is aid to the 1% paid by the other 99%.

Yet the parade of subsidies gets longer each year, perhaps, as the old joke goes, because in Washington Republicans love corporations and Democrats love welfare. As House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan puts it: "How can we save billions of dollars from unjustified subsidy and entitlement programs, if we can't get corporate America off the dole?"

With American federal debt headed toward the worst European levels, this is an issue that should unite the tea party, the Occupy Wall Street protesters and Congressional deficit-cutters.

The problem with the OWS crew is that most of them would aim to merely replace corporate welfare with more of the direct variety. The extent of any agreement between the two groups would be identifying the problem, not implementing the solution.

The Free Plagiarising Bob Dylan

Recently Bob Dylan made some waves in the art world, where he has added painting to his musical activities. Unfortunately, Dylan is certainly guilty of copying the images of several photographers. The Daily Beast reports:

Various webizens have recently been raising a stink because some of the paintings in Dylan’s new “Asia Series,” now showing at Gagosian Gallery in New York, turn out to have been based on other people’s photos, as reported in Monday’s New York Times. A painting of two old men, called Trade, was closely based on a 1948 image by the great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. One called Opium has now been “outed” as a copy of a vintage photo of an opium den by Leon Busy. A Flickr user who goes by the name Okinawa Soba has complained that fully six of Dylan’s sources seem to have been fished from Soba’s photostream, where he had posted images of vintage Asian photographs he owns.

Here is one example. Dylan's painting is on the left, and a photo by Dmitri Kessel is on the right:

While Dylan may be impugned as a plagiariser in the world of painting, at least he has maintained his honor in the music world. According to a 2010 interview with Joni Mitchell, maybe not:

Bob is not authentic at all: He’s a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I.

Maybe Joni's comments are sour grapes. After all how can the genius who penned "Girl From The North Country" be a plagiarist? The amazing song starts with this beautiful verse:

If you're traveling in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
For she was once a true love of mine.

Hmm? I've heard similar lyrics somewhere. Here is the start of "Scarborough Fair," made famous by Simon and Garfunkel:

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Remember me to one who lives there,
For once she was a true love of mine.

Although the song "Scarborough Fair" was released a few years after "Girl From The North Country," it is a traditional Scottish song that was written several centuries ago. Of course, Paul Simon referenced this fact made sure to credit the song as traditional with his arrangement. Dylan on the other hand, credited it to himself.

You've got a lot of nerve, Bob Dylan.

Beer of the Week (Vol. CXXII)

Another edition of Beer of the Week brought to you by the innovative crew at Glen Lake Wine and Spirits who can help you steam your way through the wide world of wine, whiskey, and beer.

The last decade has seen a boom in brewing in the Twin Cities. Among the bevy of new brewers who have emerged on the scene recently is the Fulton Brewery. It takes its name from the Minneapolis neighborhood where it began and like many craft breweries, there is an interesting story behind its founding.

For a while, Fulton beers were only available on tap in local bars. Now, they're also appearing in liquor store in twelve ounce bottles and growlers will be available for sale at the brewery in just a few weeks. Our featured beer is Fulton's Sweet Child of Vine:

Move over grapes. We’re celebrating the world’s most glorious vine.Generous quantities of Simcoe and Glacier hops are added throughout the boil. Then, late in fermentation, we infuse the Sweet Child with another dose of Glaciers, imparting a bouquet of hop aroma that veritably bursts forth upon serving. But don’t let all this talk of hops mislead you. The Sweet Child has a serious malt backbone to stand up to all those hops, creating a delightful balance that will keep you coming back for more. It’s an IPA, Fulton-style.

12oz brown bottle. Well designed two-tone green label with stylish Fulton logo and silhouette of namesake neighborhood in background.

STYLE: IPA

Alcohol by Volume: 6.4%

COLOR (0-2): Amber gold, mostly clear. 2

AROMA (0-2): Toasted malt and some hops, but a bit light. 1

HEAD (0-2): Off-white color, decent volume, and good lacing. 2

TASTE (0-5): Good flavor combination with sweet malts followed by floral hops. Not especially bitter with more balance than you usually find in an IPA. Smooth mouthfeel and quite drinkable. Lighter to medium bodied and well carbonated. 3

AFTERTASTE (0-2): Dry, mildly bitter finish. 2

OVERALL (0-6): Definitely not your typical American craft IPA, Fulton's Sweet Child of Vine is more balanced toward the sweeter, maltier side as English IPAs tend to be. You're not going find the heavy hops or bitter citrusy flavors that other IPAs bring. But it's a pleasurable beer to quaff and one that goes down quite easy while still giving your taste buds something to savor. 4

TOTAL SCORE (0-19): 14

Gingrich, Gingrich, Gingrich

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.

Athens on the Mississippi

HL Mencken famously said “the cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy”. Mister, we could use a man like HL Mencken again. Lots of stories of democracy taking it in the shorts of late.

From Europe, Daniel Hannan on the reaction of EU bureaucracy to the specter of the Greek people getting a chance to vote on how their economy will be run for the next few years:

I wish I could convey the sheer writhing horror that George Papanderou's referendum proposal has provoked in Brussels. Eurocrats instinctively dislike referendums. They feel that their work is too important and complicated to be vulnerable to the prejudices of hoi polloi.

Closer to home, Vikings Vice President Lester Bagley, on the specter of Minnesota taxpayers getting to vote on how their tax dollars are spent::

Our belief has always been that the Vikings stadium proposal should be held to the same process as the Twins-Hennepin County ballpark, as well as the vast majority of issues considered by the state legislature and every local government in Minnesota. Elected officials have had – and will continue to have - the opportunity to analyze this complex issue and make the best decision in the public interest.

Across two continents and an ocean, a unifying theme emerges. The average citizen is too stupid to correctly decide their own fate. Somewhere Fidel Castro and Hu Jintao are nodding approvingly.

I suppose you *might* be able to argue this point when it comes to international high finance and multilateral currency unions, with the fate of the entire world economy riding on making the correct decision. But, there are people out there who really believe we can’t be trusted to decide whether or not it’s worth it to spend vast sums of our scarce resources on a football stadium?

The “I’m with stupid” argument is not a strong one, at least while the stupid still yield some power. They apparently don’t in Greece, as the referendum on their future has been cancelled. The Greeks can now kick back, relax, and let their enlightened overseers guide them to the glorious new day. But in Minnesota, the stupid still have the power to elect the politicians who will decide what happens with the Vikings stadium. And there was enough resistance to put a scare into Gov. Dayton and the Republican legislators and the plot to kill a referendum has been effectively thwarted.

The proponents of massive public subsidy for a Vikings stadium now need to jump to a related, but slightly different argument, articulated here by Vikings owner Zygi Wilf:

A proposed football stadium in Arden Hills should not have to face a Ramsey County referendum, because Hennepin County didn't need one to build Target Field, Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said.

"We would like to be held on the same playing field as the Twins," Wilf said. "I know when we were here six years ago advocating for a stadium up in the north, Anoka, that the Legislature not only approved without referendum the Twins deal, but also approved a football stadium."

It’s the “fairness” argument, most commonly used by children who feel their siblings got a disproportionately large piece of the birthday cake. It appears Wilf’s parents never laid the “life isn’t fair” retort on little Zygi, because he still feels he deserves his full share of the spoils.

Beyond the fact that two situations are not synonymous (the Vikings stadium would cost the tax payers hundreds of millions more than Target Field), the argument itself is preposterous. Because we made one irresponsible spending decision, we are compelled to approve all other irresponsible spending proposals, otherwise it wouldn’t be fair.

If that logic was accepted, next thing you know we’d be subsidizing such things as luxury water fountains, speeches by comic book authors for 50 grand, and the decadent lifestyles of public radio employees. Er, wait a minute ….

Given our history in Minnesota, it’s not surprising the Vikings would feel entitled to enrich themselves at the public’s expense. And, ultimately, we only have the people to blame for this. When not directly voting to allow for this type of wasteful spending (see the Legacy Amendment), they continually vote for the politicians that enable it to continue.

The Tea Party movement represents a backlash against this system and maybe the last, best hope for getting some sanity back into government spending. At least some politicians are starting to notice, as evidenced by this comment from Ramsey County Commissioner Tony Bennett.

"I don't think you could get a library passed on a referendum. Never mind an ice arena or a playground, if it were the only issue on the ballot. No matter what we put on a ballot today that costs money, I don't think anybody would look at it," he said.

Seems like common sense to me and the first steps of a course correction. But the problem is, the politicians like Bennett see this opinion not as his marching order on how to govern, but as a challenge to be worked around.

The Wisdom Of Homer

More evidence that alcohol is the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems from the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Timothy Bakdash intends to argue he was intoxicated when prosecutors say he drove his car into a University of Minnesota student, his attorney said Thursday.

Bakdash 29, of Roseville, goes on trial Nov. 14 in the April hit-and-run death of Benjamin Van Handel, 23, of Appleton, Wis..

To win a conviction for first-degree murder, prosecutors must prove he intended to kill. But defense attorney Joe Tamburino said Bakdash had been drinking and lacked the ability to form the intent needed under the law to be convicted of the charge.

"The alcohol a person consumed affects their ability to form intent," he said.

Imagine the possibilities if young Timothy is successful with this defense.

The drunk driving defense:
"So sorry, occifer, but as you can clearly see I am drunk. Therefore, I lacked the ability to form the intent needed to be convicted of drunk driving."

The criminal mischief defense:
"I'm sorry, your honor. My friends and I were incredibly drunk when we tackled that Ronald McDonald statue, broke it off at the ankles, stuffed it in our trunk and paraded it around town. We lacked the ability to come to the reasonable conclusion that this was somewhat illegal...you know, because of all of the alcohol we drank."

On second thought, that last one could never happen...except, perhaps, in Canada.

Holding Out Hope

With the SS Perry taking on water and Hermain Cain embroiled in a scandal that however flimsy may end up sinking or at least seriously damaging his chances for the GOP endorsement, the solid 75% of Republicans with membership cards in the ABR (Anyone But Romney) club are left with fewer and fewer options. One of those options that seems to be becoming increasingly viable is the once declared dead Newt Gingrich. In yesterday's WSJ, Paul Gigot waxed admiringly on Newt's impressive qualifications and asked Can Gingrich Break Through?:

This is an unusual primary season, however, and the question is whether voters will now give Mr. Gingrich another look. The former House speaker's allies think so. They say Ms. Bachmann and Rick Perry can't come back, Herman Cain will fade as his national sales tax gets broader scrutiny, and neither Mr. Santorum nor Jon Huntsman has attracted much voter support. That leaves Mr. Gingrich to emerge from Iowa as the main challenger to Mitt Romney. Even if Mr. Romney wins New Hampshire, the campaign then becomes a two-man race heading into South Carolina and Florida, where Mr. Gingrich's debating talents and conservative agenda will contrast with Mr. Romney's poll-driven caution.

That scenario may be a long-shot, but no one should rule it out. After Thursday's education session, Mr. Gingrich mentioned that in a conventional year he might not get that second look. But this year, voters are worried enough about the condition and direction of the country that they are willing to consider someone with proposals that are bolder than the political norm. Mr. Gingrich must still overcome the perception that he's been around too long, as well as his habit of talking himself into trouble (recall his criticism of Paul Ryan's Medicare plan). He'll need more money too. But in a year when GOP voters are still searching for someone who can go head-to-head with President Obama, don't be surprised if Mr. Gingrich gets another turn in the spotlight.

The 75% turn our lonely eyes to Newt.