Hate to Say it But Newt Gingrich May Be the Only Option

As the front runner in the GOP primaries, Romney, soon or later, will falter. If Sarah Palin does not come back, the only viable option is Newt. I hate to say it, but Newt is the other alternative. With all the dirty laundry known about Newt, everything is on the table. There won't be any surprises because Newt has been vetted. Newt has been in the Washington establishment for a very long time. Hopefully, his ideas will supersede his crooked past. If Newt wins the GOP nomination, I will likely hold my nose and vote for him because 4 more years of Obama is not an option.

(Washington Times) Romney has been the anointed front-runner for four years now in a party that likes its front-runners. Nothing contents Republicans more than an orderly transition of power.

But not this time. The long list of slain or surrendered GOP saviors is astonishing to consider.

Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and, now, Herman Cain.

It appears the only thing Republican primary voters can agree upon for any length of time is that they just don’t want to nominate Mr. Romney. Other than the deep antipathy for President Obama, the discomfort with Mr. Romney is the only enduring theme of the 2012 GOP primary process.

No one in either party has lived in the bowels of this town longer than Newt Gingrich, and yet he appears to be peaking at the perfect moment to capture the nomination.

As strange as it all may be, here is why the former speaker really could win.

First, Mr. Gingrich is truly Clintonian in all his faults. Yes, there are many, but they have been out there for all to see for a long time. His laundry has been so well-aired over the decades that we are not likely to see Gloria Allred midwifing any new salacious scandals now.

Second, before Mr. Gingrich was the ultimate insider, he was the ultimate outsider. He was a legendary back-bencher in the House before he became speaker, and he was at his best crashing the ramparts from the outside, such as during the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress.

Finally, then as now, he is a man of ideas. The improbable recovery of his campaign since its summer collapse is entirely owing to the force of his ideas, laid out in so many debates.

Newt Gingrich is a romantic conservative.