More Newt momentum

Newt appeared on Center Seat to face the panel Mitt Romney refuses to face (video h/t The Right Scoop):

Steven Hayward at Powerline points out a key point:

Maybe the best part was when Steve Hayes played the infamous TV ad Newt cut with Nancy Pelosi three years ago about the “climate crisis” (about the 6:50 mark of the video).  Newt didn’t finesse it: he straight out said, “That was the dumbest single thing I’ve done. . . simply inexplicable. . . it was just dumb.”  Not often a politician admits a mistake that straightforwardly.

Now if only Mitt Romney would admit the same for Romneycare.

Meanwhile, Dorothy Rabinowitz writes of Newt’s climb, Why Gingrich Could Win:

His rise in the polls suggests that more and more Republicans are absorbing that fact, along with the possibility that Mr. Gingrich’s qualifications all ’round could well make him the most formidable contender for the contest with Barack Obama.

Update: From Margaret Carlson (h/t @JamesTaranto):

I admit that Newt Gingrich is an unlikely virgin. He’s famously undisciplined — as his multiple marriages suggest. He has little money, was abandoned by his staff and probably never expected to be seriously considered for the nomination. On his way to the recent Bloomberg-Washington Post debate in Hanover, New Hampshire, Gingrich traveled alone, getting his own coffee, carrying his own suitcase and shaking any hand he could grab hold of.

Tags: Newt Gingrich

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