Saturday, March 10, 2007

Gingrich wooing Christian right?

If you haven't heard, Newt Gingrich has admitted to having an affair while he was a congressman. Not only has he admitted it, but he has admitted it to pope James Dobson and Jerry Falwell. It seems that the Christian right is abuzz with the thought of a Gingrich run for the presidency. The Christian right has not found a candidate that they are really satisfied with yet - Romney is conservative, but Mormon; Guiliani is a good leader, but is too liberal for their tastes; and McCain is just a mess. As a side note I saw McCain on TBN (click on March 6, 2007) the other day - interesting, very interesting. Is Gingrich wooing the Christian right in order to make a run for the nomination? Gingrich says that he'll announce his decision to run or not this fall. Normally that wouldn't be such a big deal, but with the way the primary season is shaping up, I wonder if announcing in the fall is soon enough to make way. If he announces at the beginning of September that gives him 5 months before Super Tuesday. Is that enough time to raise the money and create all the committees necessary to make a serious run at the nomination? Perhaps it is, but still by September Guilianni will have a 9 months of lead time on Gingrich, while McCain and Romney will have 8 months. Granted political momentum can be gained and lost in a matter of days, as we saw in the race between Dean and Kerry in the last Democratic nomination cycle. So, whether or not Gingrich can get momentum is really up to how he prepares the field and it seems that making this move - admitting his faults and speaking spiritually about them - is a way of preparing the Christian right f0r a run. If he can get the Christian right and some of the other conservative voters then he has the best chance of winning the nomination. The only downside is that what seems to be a very honest confession is now not that but simply a political move.

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