Newt "Buy My Book" Gingrich Iowa's New Pick For President?

Newt Gingrich answers the question, can one run a book tour and a  Presidential campaign at the same time? The answer, it seems, is “yes”. With early primaries less than two months away, the newest Iowa Republican polls show New Gingrich as the #1 pick for president in that state. He garnered just 28% of the vote, which indicates a high degree of division among GOP support in that state, but still, Gingrich is on top. Until now he’s made his campaign platform primarily a sequence of plugs for Newt-brand merchandise, but it seems he might be a viable candidate as well.

Gingrich has been dialing back his rhetoric (a little) to avoid the kinds of verbal blunders that dogged his early campaign, and has given adequate, if somewhat wonkish, performances at GOP debates. The media, and his competitors, have largely written him off as a valid nominee, and his refusal to publicly rebuke attacks in the media has supported that perception. However, it seems that despite his best efforts, he may be Iowa’s pick for the Presidential nominee. There are substantial doubts about his ability to maintain this position, though the job has largely been done for him. Romney, who is the national frontrunner by a slim margin, has not devoted any resources in Iowa after being snubbed there in 2008. Herman Cain’s adolescent approach to courting got him in trouble with the Iowa GOP, which is largely evangelical, and Rick Perry’s managed to brain-fart himself into irrelevance. Bachmann may have won the straw poll a few months ago, but since has practically faded into obscurity after her post-Perry pity party. That leaves Gingrich, pleasantly peddling his wares, and maybe riding everyone else’s mistakes into winning the Iowa caucus.

The problem is that, with the recent polls and a surge in an early voting state, he may actually be dropped into the spotlight again. Gingrich is incredibly flimsy under the spotlight (let’s not forget him insulting his entire party with the “right-wing social engineering” comment). He’s comfortable in policy, and sometimes even makes a good point without alienating anyone, but he gets himself into trouble when he journeys into social conservatism territory. The Republican base, at this point, wants just enough of a policy wonk to look like they know what they’re talking about, but really seems to crave the reactionary fire and brimstone of socially conservative rhetoric. This could put Gingrich in the perfect position to slide back into the rank and file.

The PPP Survey finding Gingrich the top with 28%, showed Romney in 2^nd with 25%, and Cain in third with 18%. Another CBS Poll found Gingrich in second place at 22%, just two points behind Romney.