Newt's ego really knows no bounds

I realize he is not a factor at this point, but this article has a couple decent LOL moments.  Basically his point is that he is not the front-runner because he's too smart.

PALATINE, Ill.?While many say it's all but over for Newt Gingrich, he is still pounding the campaign trail, comparing himself to figures like Ronald Reagan and laying out a role for himself at a contested GOP convention.

"Other than Ronald Reagan, I know of no Republican in my lifetime who's been able to talk like this," Mr. Gingrich told a banquet crowd here, referring to his own policy ideas on energy, brain science and other matters. "That's why I'm still running, because the gap is so huge."

If Mr. Gingrich has failed to capture the party's imagination in his bid for its presidential nomination, he says, it isn't his fault. He offers big ideas, but "the news media can't cover it, and my opponents can't comprehend it,'' he says.

His audiences are smaller now, and more muted. Before his losses Tuesday in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, Mr. Gingrich drew several crowds of 500 or more supporters. The audience at a Mobile, Ala., antique-car garage last week couldn't fit into the venue. Here in Illinois, the applause is more polite and the chants of "Newt! Newt!" much rarer. Crowds of about 100 at a Rosemont convention center and about 200 at an airplane hangar in Lake of the Hills didn't reach capacity.

Mr. Gingrich is focusing on one issue in particular, energy, offering a drilling program aimed at producing "$2.50 gas.'' He points to the fact that the White House has attacked the plan as evidence that only he can design a campaign that will defeat President Barack Obama.

But he has won only two of the 31 nominating contests held so far, in his home state of Georgia and in South Carolina. Rick Santorum took home more votes in Alabama and Mississippi, despite heavy campaigning by the former Georgia congressman in his home region.

Connie Carosielli, a 66-year-old real-estate broker who lives in Mount Prospect, Ill., said after Mr. Gingrich's banquet speech that she'd "pay to see him debate the president." But she's voting for Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, citing concerns about Mr. Gingrich's personal history and his electability. "I don't see him winning," she said.

A contested convention would occur if no candidate emerged from the primaries and caucuses with the 1,144 delegates needed to claim the nomination, prompting negotiations to produce a nominee.

"I think Newt's a great guy," said Sig Vaznelis, chairman of the Cook County Republican Party and a Romney supporter. But "if it does go to the convention?everyone's going to wake up and say we're going to go Newt all of a sudden? No."

Mr. Gingrich does win supporters at stump speeches. Nancy Franklin, an 86-year-old retired public-school secretary who heard Mr. Gingrich speak in Elgin, Ill., said she now planned to vote for him. "I think he's honest," she said. "He's trying to do good."

Bill Clark, a 69-year-old marketing consultant in Brandon, Miss., acknowledged before a rally at City Hall this week that Mr. Gingrich was unlikely to win the nomination. But he said Mr. Gingrich should stick around for the convention. "When they throw the fish into the frying pan, I'd like Newt to be there," he said.

In Mr. Obama's home state of Illinois, Mr. Gingrich's stump speeches have included fewer applause-drawing digs at Mr. Obama and more vignettes about health policy and Social Security.

The busy schedule has taken a toll on Mr. Gingrich. He admitted to a supporter before the polls closed Tuesday that he had taken a 3?-hour nap after a morning radio interview. But he shows no signs of quitting.

"In my mind, every day's cool," he told one crowd. "I'm still here."

Mr. Gingrich, whose campaign led national polls late last year, told reporters Thursday he "made a mistake" in not being "aggressively positive" in response to attack ads that began running after he took the lead. "We're having sort of a halftime," he said of his campaign, adding that he planned on "resetting the game clock."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303863404577283883806112646.html