JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS - Newt Gingrich, left, and Mitt Romney cross paths at a debate in November.
“We’re going to stay positive, we’re going to stay solution-oriented and talk about what America needs to do,” Gingrich said after a campaign stop in Greenville, S.C. “The only opponent I have is Barack Obama.”
Even before Romney’s attacks, Gingrich’s chaotic, historic years as speaker had already become a focal point in the campaign.
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In interviews, his former colleagues have said that Gingrich was a brilliant insurgent — energizing a Republican caucus that had not held power in 40 years, and winning a historic victory in the 1994 elections.
After taking office, Gingrich led the House into a series of battles with then-President Bill Clinton over deficits and spending. One standoff, in the winter of 1995-96, led to a temporary shutdown of the federal government.
But several colleagues said the fights were worth it. Republicans under Gingrich won major changes to the welfare program, as well as a budget agreement with Clinton that led to four years of balanced budgets.
“This is the single most successful speakership in modern American history,” former congressman Robert Walker (R-Pa.) said of Gingrich on Thursday. He called Romney’s attacks “nonsense.”
Several former colleagues said that Gingrich’s personality — full of rapid-fire ideas but sometimes short on personal skills — might actually be well suited for a tumultuous time in Washington.
“Everybody in politics enjoys peace and quiet,” said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), a Gingrich supporter. “But we really weren’t sent here for peace and quiet. We were sent here to get things done. It would certainly be putting the vehicle of government in a different gear” if Gingrich were elected, he said.
But other colleagues remembered Gingrich as a deeply flawed boss. Former congresswoman Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.) said that Gingrich had begun as an inclusive leader, sharing credit and public appearances with his rank and file.
Slowly, however, Gingrich began to portray the GOP revolution as “All Newt, all the time,” Molinari said. She said Gingrich often issued conflicting marching orders from day to day, and focused on a decades-long plan for GOP dominance, ignoring real problems in the present. “That’s when his leadership style really sort of evolved into leadership by chaos.”
Gingrich’s time as speaker was marred by a series of public gaffes. He intimated that the government shutdown was, in part, the result of a personal snub by Clinton: Gingrich had been made to sit in the back when he flew once on Air Force One.
Eventually, Gingrich had a press aide stand in his field of vision when he spoke to reporters — nodding, or shaking her head, to signal if he was in trouble.
Gingrich’s high-handed style led to an abortive effort to oust him as speaker, in 1997. Gingrich survived that, but after a disappointing election cycle, he resigned in 1998.
“It’s amazing to me” that Gingrich is back as a serious presidential candidate, Molinari said. Her husband, former congressman Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.), was a player in the abortive coup, and resigned his position in the GOP leadership. “He’s the guy that got thrown out. I mean, people just don’t lose their speakership.”
Do Gingrich’s troubles as speaker mean that he’d be a bad president? Former congressman Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) said he wasn’t sure. In some ways, he said, Gingrich might actually be more suited to the White House than the House — after all, the speaker can’t fire lawmakers who disagree with him.
“He’s not a real relational guy. He’s not a back-patting politician,” said Wamp, who has not endorsed a candidate. “That was harder for him as speaker than it would be as president, because as president you lay out the vision” and others carry it out.
So a combative, ambitious, ego-driven President Gingrich might succeed, Wamp said.
At least for one term.
“He would actually get something done,” Wamp said. “Even if he never got reelected.”
Staff writer Nia-Malika Henderson and staff researcher Alice Crites contributed to this report.
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