US elections 2012: Newt Gingrich’s political comeback runs out of puff

During a chaotic campaign Mr Gingrich, not a man known for his false modesty,
was unapologetic about his “grandiose” vision for America which
included a permanently manned moon-base, a project he compared to Abraham
Lincoln’s trans-American railway and the Wright Brother’s vision of powered
flight.

He is expected to support Mr Romney during this autumn’s campaign, despite
bitterness over the barrage of personal attacks that the Romney team flung
at him during January’s Florida primary.

At that time, Mr Gingrich was enjoying a spectacular resurgence after winning
the previous primary in South Carolina on the back of two barnstorming
television debate performances, a level of intensity and interest that he
would never recapture.

In recent weeks Mr Gingrich has become increasingly irrelevant, as the former
speaker used his campaign stops to indulge his lifelong passion for zoos,
causing his biggest stir with news that he had been bitten on the finger by
a Magellanic penguin in St Louis.

As he prepared to endorse Mr Romney at a joint appearance scheduled for next
week, the Obama campaign released a video to remind voters of some of the
bad blood that passed between the two men during the primary campaign.

Clips showed Mr Gingrich calling Mr Romney a man “who can’t be honest
with the American people” and attacking Bain Capital, the venture
capital company Mr Romney once headed, for “looting” US
businesses.

Asked by a TV anchor if Mr Romney was a liar, Mr Gingrich replied: “Yes.”

Despit this, Mr Gingrich signaled his willingness to work with Mr Romney,
offering him a back-handed endorsement that stopped far short of
whole-hearted praise.

“As to the presidency, I am asked sometimes – is Mitt Romney conservative
enough? My answer is simple – compared to Barack Obama?” he said.

“This is not a choice between Mitt Romney and Ronald Reagan. This is a choice
between Mitt Romney and the most radical, leftist president in American
history.”

For his part, Mr Romney was magnanimous in victory, issuing a statement
declaring that the departed Mr Gingrich had already guaranteed himself a
place in American history and “demonstrated both eloquence and fearlessness
in advancing conservative ideas.”

Political analysts were left to debate whether Mr Gingrich’s “second
coming” had tarnished or burnished his place in history, with one
Washington Times column headlined: “Was Newt Gingrich’s campaign the
worst in history?”

Conservative commentators were more sympathetic. Jeffrey Lord, a former Reagan
White House aide and Republican Party historian who has worked with Mr
Gingrich, told the Daily Telegraph that even if no one else agreed,
the candidate himself would be convinced it was all worth it.

“Newt is a historian. He doesn’t compare himself to Romney, but to
various historic personages from the past.

“He will see himself like Churchill, or De Gaulle or Richard Nixon who
were down and out, and counted out politically – and arguably Newt was in
that position after 1998 – and then came back: what he called ‘the return’.

“In his own head, Newt will think that it is better he did this, than
not. He spent six months on the front pages, getting massive amounts of
attention from the media for ideas I know he believes in. Had he not been on
that stage, he would have been, relatively speaking, in obscurity.”

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