After largely taking his name out of the mix of possible presidential contenders, Newt Gingrich has been quiet for a few months. In July he said that he would not run if Thompson 'ran and did well.' That was probably just a recognition of reality--since there would be no room for a Gingrich candidacy if Fred Thompson did well. There was even talk of a Gingrich endorsement of Thompson, as a prominent Gingrich adviser signed on with the Thompson campaign.
But recently Gingrich revealed that he is again considering a run:
"I will decide based on whether I have about $30 million in committed campaign contributions and whether I think it is possible to run a campaign based on ideas rather than 30-second sound bites," the former House speaker told The Washington Times yesterday.
And continuing the drumbeat, he has discussed the 2008 race with National Journal. He says it's hard to imagine that he would run in 2008, but he clearly relishes the idea of a race against Hillary and he expresses strong ideas about what it will take for a Republican to win next year:
Gingrich: I think that any Republican has to have a core, direct, compelling message of why they would be different than [President] Bush and why they would be different than Clinton. And they have to be able to say it in 30 seconds. And they have to be able to say it so that people in their living room believe it matters to them and their family. None of our candidates have yet found that rhythm.
Douglass: What aren't the Republicans saying that they should be?
Gingrich: We need very bold, dramatic change, change at every level -- from school board to city council to county commission to state legislatures to the presidency. That's what the Republican Party has to stand for. And, frankly, the Republican Party hasn't stood for that.
Douglass: You always say that what the country needs is a candidate with big ideas. Is there anyone in either party who has the kind of big ideas that you have been talking about?
Gingrich: [John] Edwards has a lot of big ideas, but they're the wrong ones. The country needs solutions, and we need an ability to come to grips with how much change is involved in getting to those solutions. I'm deeply opposed to launching campaigns on late-night television. I think it just trivializes the whole process...
Gingrich: This is not about 2008. Very large public movements take a while to get off the ground. The only circumstance I can imagine under which [my wife] Callista and I would be faced with a choice about running this year would be if there is a vacuum in October so deep and people began to be so afraid of Senator Clinton winning that you could actually see by the end of October a scale of resources that would let you be genuinely competitive. The odds are, that won't happen. I'm very comfortable with projects that take more than a sprint...
Douglass: Let's talk about Hillary Clinton. What do you think is her Achilles' heel?
Gingrich: I think the danger she runs is that in attempting to appease the left wing of her party she becomes unacceptable to the majority of Americans once they understand what she said she'd do. She is actually much more centrist than MoveOn.org. She is much tougher on military affairs than [her party's] Left. She is more rational, and I have very great respect for her as a hardworking professional. No Republican should think she is going to be easy to beat. But I have watched her now for a year be gradually pulled to the left. Her husband was too clever to do that.
Douglass: Do you want to run?
Gingrich: Not necessarily. I want to serve my country. I don't want to run as an act of habit. I have no great interest in going out to campaign. I have every interest in finding a generation of solutions. So if you said to me, would I be willing to serve my country, the answer is yes. But it won't bother me to spend all of next year running workshops and developing a new generation of ideas, and trying to be available for every American, not just Republicans.
His protestations notwithstanding, it's hard to imagine that Gingrich would be talking about running now if he were not actively considering a 2008 candidacy. It's possible that with the highly-polarizing Hillary Clinton having emerged as the clear Democratic favorite, he may have decided that even a polarizer like himself has a good chance. Read the whole interview, and judge for yourself whether Newt has hit on a strong message.
