Newt Gingrich presidential campaign, 2012

The 2012 presidential campaign of Newt Gingrich, former U.S. Representative of Georgia and Speaker of the House, was formally launched on May 11, 2011, through a video posted on Facebook and YouTube, following the establishment of an exploratory committee on March 3 and speculation about a potential run for the office.

Gingrich gained national prominence during the 1994 midterm elections due to his efforts to unify the Republican Party's campaigns under a single platform, dubbed the "Contract with America." The elections led to the Republican Party controlling both chambers of Congress. Gingrich was subsequently elected as Speaker, holding the office until his resignation from the House at the beginning of the 106th Congress's term in 1999. Afterward, Gingrich would chair various think tanks, occasionally serving as a commentator on Fox News.

Gingrich's platform, dubbed the "21st Century Contract with America," proposed repealing the Affordable Care Act, which he characterized as "unconstitutional, unaffordable, unworkable and stunningly unfair." Gingrich also pledged to decrease the power of the judicial branch to centralize lawmaking efforts within the executive and legislative branches, citing concerns about "activist" and "lawless" judges. Other tenets included increasing law enforcement at the Mexico–United States border, and opposition to the legalization of same-sex marriage.

The campaign was hampered early on, when Gingrich gaffed in criticizing the House Republicans' budget plan during an appearance on ''Meet the Press'', as well as the revelation that he and his wife, Callista, had incurred a debt of hundreds of thousands of dollars at a jewelry store. In June 2011, eighteen of Gingrich's staffers resigned over disagreements regarding the campaign's lax schedule, particularly noting his choice to vacation on a cruise in the Greek isles. By early December, however, Gingrich had been forecasted as the frontrunner, primarily due to support from the party's conservative bloc and the Tea Party movement, although his performance had begun to wane later on in the month as Mitt Romney, a more moderate candidate, gained more support.

Despite Gingrich's victory in the South Carolina primary, his performance quickly worsened, mainly marred by problems with staffing and heavy debt. Following a rally in Florida prior to the state's primary elections, Gingrich's potential handling of the economy was further called into question by commentators and rivals when he proposed to have a moon colony built by 2020. Following a poor performance in Nevada on February 4, the campaign began to increasingly focus on building support among Southern voters, deliberately avoiding campaigning in states where his polling was poor. After only managing to win Georgia, his home state, on Super Tuesday (March 6), Gingrich continued to underperform as his media coverage dropped, culminating with his decision to suspend his campaign after winning merely 26% of the vote to Romney's 56% in the Delaware primary on April 24. Gingrich announced the suspension on May 2 at a hotel ballroom in Washington, D.C., publicly endorsing Romney four days later.

Background

Gingrich was first elected to Congress in 1978, and served as Speaker of the House after helping to orchestrate the 1994 Republican Revolution in part with the ''Contract With America''. He stepped down as Speaker and resigned from the House in 1999. Since then, he has published several historical novels and served as a political consultant and recently as a Fox News contributor. He was previously speculated as a candidate in the 2008 election, and has supported the Tea Party movement.

For most of 2010, Gingrich spent a considerable amount of time campaigning throughout the early primary states, particularly Iowa and New Hampshire. In 2011, he took part in the Conservative Political Action Conference, fueling further speculation of a potential run.

In March, speaking on the Christian Broadcasting Network about his past marital infidelity, he said he had made poor moral judgments and regretted that part of his past, for which he had sought God's forgiveness.

2011: campaign kick-off and developments

Announcement

Gingrich had maintained he would not officially decide whether or not to pursue the office of president until at least February 2011, and would announce his decision sometime in March. It was erroneously announced on May 1, 2011, that Gingrich had formed an exploratory committee, and officially announced the committee in Georgia after a meeting with Governor Nathan Deal. He actually launched an exploratory committee on May 3, when he started his new website.

The website, entitled "Newt Exploratory 2012", featured a photo of Gingrich with his wife, Callista, superimposed over a background of flag-waving Americans. The Getty Images-licensed background was found to have been previously used on the website of the late Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. He officially declared his run for president on May 11, 2011, through Twitter and YouTube, making him the first candidate in American history to do so.

''Meet the Press'' interview

On May 15, 2011, Gingrich was interviewed by David Gregory on ''Meet the Press''. Questioning Gingrich on the issue of entitlements, Gregory asked: "The Medicare trust fund, in stories that have come out over the weekend, is now going to be depleted by 2024, five years earlier than predicted. Do you think that Republicans ought to buck the public opposition and really move forward to completely change Medicare, turn it into a voucher program where you give seniors some premium support and—so that they can go out and buy private insurance?" Gingrich answered: "I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate."

Perceived to be criticism of the Republican Party's plan to reform Medicare for the 2012 United States federal budget, the comments were met with backlash from the GOP and various political pundits. Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska and the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, defended the former Speaker of the House on the Fox News Channel show ''Hannity'', stating Gingrich was a victim of gotcha journalism and that his apology was forced by the "lamestream media". Gingrich later said on CBS News's ''Face the Nation'' that he was not referring to Ryan but to a general principle "that neither party should impose on the American people something that they are deeply opposed to."

Staff resignations

On June 9, 2011, Gingrich's campaign manager, his press secretary, and senior aides in early primary states resigned ''en masse''. One resigning aide, strategist Dave Carney, cited incompatibility between the candidate's vision of the campaign and that of the professional staff. ''The New York Times'' cited aides complaining of the influence of Gingrich's wife, Callista Gingrich, on the campaign, the candidate's unwillingness to devote more time to campaigning in early primary states, and recent spending on a chartered jet despite fundraising troubles. Fox News also reported that staff had argued with Gingrich over a luxury cruise in the Balkans, Greece and Turkey he took with his wife just before the resignations.

Two of the aides had previously worked for Rick Perry, who was launching his own presidential bid. Gingrich vowed on his Facebook page the same day to begin his campaign "anew". He compared himself to Ronald Reagan and John McCain, who experienced large staff resignations during their presidential runs.

Revival

Gingrich continued to campaign on a promise of restoring competitiveness to the United States, promising to eliminate the capital gains tax and slash corporate taxes. In August 2011, Gingrich called for the adoption of the Six Sigma business management model by the United States government, arguing that as much as half a trillion a year in waste could potentially be eliminated.

Gingrich began taking commercial flights and recruited professional volunteers to save money. By July 2011, he announced he had raised $2 million in the previous 3 months and was on-track to paying back his campaign debts. Gingrich said the hardest aspect of his campaign was fundraising, and stated that potential donors had been deterred by earlier media stories that he was not a serious candidate.

He told guests at a fund-raising dinner, "It's September and I'm here. Every day that goes by we're fund-raising. We will be on the road 24 days this month. I will be in 50 states. This campaign is fully underway." On the campaign trail, a former Republican Party chairman described him as "a wellspring of ideas" and an independent voter said his study of history was a "good credential".

Gingrich approached his political campaign based on a model from Walmart and McDonald's, saying that instead of carving a niche for himself from among his fellow Republican contenders, he would court nontraditional interest groups for the GOP, including Asian Americans and Latinos.

Reporters characterized him as " wonkish" and "unconventional" in his approach to campaigning; he spent hours discussing brain disorders such as Alzheimer's and autism with scientists, for instance, and spoke with voters on the importance of investing in brain science research. Gingrich was one of several candidates, including Mitt Romney, who did not contest the 2011 Ames Straw Poll. Gingrich did not purchase a booth or speaking slot at the Ames poll, and made no serious effort to win the Ames poll. He finished 8th out of 10 candidates listed.

Gingrich put effort into his Internet social networking, and developed a strong following on Facebook and Twitter. He also held a handful of video "hangouts" where he would have webcam discussions with potential voters. Politico found his Twitter account impressive, and wrote a positive article on how his Twitter account had developed to 1.3 million followers from its start in 2009. Gingrich posted 2 or 3 tweets per day, and included science and history in addition to political topics.

An anonymous former member of Gingrich's campaign staff said about 80% of the followers were inactive or invalid accounts, and that the campaign paid an Internet service to add followers. Gingrich's spokesman rejected the allegations as false and said his inclusion in the Suggested User List was "responsible for a large, but indeterminable amount of followers". ABC News identified two other "suggested" users, Gavin Newsom with 1.3 million, and John McCain with 1.7 million followers, suggesting it was not an anomaly.

Debates and polling

''The Washington Post'' reported Gingrich had a "solid performance" at the fifth Republican debate in Tampa, Florida. A CNN/ORC International poll released shortly after the sixth Republican debate in Orlando, Florida had Gingrich in third behind Perry and Romney.

Gingrich increased his fundraising after consistently performing well in the Republican debates. Pollster Kellyanne Conway, who worked for Gingrich's American Solutions, reviewed his debate performances and said his focus and ability to stay on-point during the discussions helped him enormously, as compared to past speeches where he would entertain many different topics. In September 2011, he was able to increase his ground operations in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire. Tea Party founder Judson Phillips endorsed him, praising his "presidential" appearances at the debates.

Gingrich personally was in-favor of having unmoderated debates and advocated for a series of Lincoln-Douglas style forums, which he believed would produce a better "adult Conversation with the American people." He explained, "It's difficult to get past the elite media's passion for trivia. It's difficult to deal with presidential debates that say, in 30 seconds, 'What's your position on balancing the budget?' You know, I don't think we're geared, outside maybe of C-SPAN, to the kind of conversations that we really need in order for the country to make decisions that are really very fundamental."

New "Contract with America"

Gingrich introduced a new "Contract with America" that he said would be "much bigger and much bolder" than his original 1994 Contract. Among his proposals would be a Balanced Budget Amendment, a strong training program for new hires in his administration, an individualized learning program for American students, and the signing of 50–100 executive orders beginning on his first day as president.

Mr. Gingrich proposed the building of a fence on the U.S.-Mexican border by January 1, 2014, telling a Tea Party audience it was long overdue, "We won the entire second World War in 44 months, and now in 25 years we can't control the border when the entire Texas side of the border is a river."

He emphasized the balance of powers between the executive, judicial, and legislative branches, and proposed an elimination of policy czars and the reduction of power for the judiciary. Gingrich said the United States faced "an increasingly arrogant judiciary" and said that the Federalist Papers had established the judiciary as the "weakest of the three branches". Gingrich promoted a reduction in the size of the federal government, pushing for the states' rights authorized by the 10th Amendment.

Certain federal agencies, including the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security would be reduced or eliminated, and federal programs such as student loans would be done by private companies instead of the government. He believes the EPA should be eliminated and replaced by a smaller agency which would be more aggressive in getting companies to use new science and technology to help the environment.

He opposed carbon pricing, which was especially unpopular among conservatives, saying it was an overreach of the EPA's authority. He said the EPA, which was founded in 1970 by Richard Nixon, a Republican, began on good conservative principles but has become too bureaucratic and litigation-focused to be successfully innovative. In particular, he is an advocate for nuclear power, and wants government regulations rewritten from an "outdated" model based on large complex nuclear plants so they take into consideration the systems inside smaller nuclear power plants.

Developments, November–December 2011

By November 2011, Gingrich had moved ahead of Rick Perry in the polls, behind Mitt Romney and Herman Cain who were both contending for the lead. On November 10, an independent PAC not bound by FEC donation limits
Solutions 2012
was launched to fill the fundraising gap that existed since Gingrich's 527 group, American Solutions, closed down in August.

At a debate, Gingrich was pressed about his past relationship with Freddie Mac

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