Gingrich's Ex-Wife Gives 'Explosive' Interview

He didn't actually offer ABC any witnesses to refute ex-wife

(NEWSER) - Newt Gingrich's campaign today admitted that it hadn't actually offered ABC any character witnesses to refute allegations made by his second wife , as the speaker had angrily insisted it had. "The story was false. Every personal friend I have who knew us in that period says the story is false," he declared in the most recent CNN debate . "We offered several of them to ABC to prove it was false. They weren't interested." Turns out that wasn't quite the case. More»

Admits Romney had a bad night, will pick himself up in Florida

(NEWSER) - Chris Christie's horse lost last night's South Carolina race, and the New Jersey governor came out swinging at victor Newt Gingrich this morning, calling the former House speaker an "embarrassment" to the Republican party . “Gingrich has embarrassed the party over time," said Christie, who has enthusiastically endorsed Mitt Romney. "Whether he'll do it again in the future I don't know, but Gov. Romney never has." He also blasted Gingrich as a lobbyist: “Strategic adviser? That is the oldest Washington dodge in the book. That's because he didn't want to register as a lobbyist." Christie also notably said he wouldn't rule out a Romney-Christie ticket. The Sunday dial was clogged with political luminaries dissecting last night's upset win for Gingrich ; as per Politico : More»

'Very' and 'Somewhat' conservatives went Gingrich, 'liberals' went Romney

(NEWSER) - So how did Newt Gingrich pull off his stunning upset in South Carolina yesterday? Unsurprisingly, by appealing to conservatives, writes Politico . Exit polls indicate that 45% of people calling themselves "very conservative" went to Gingrich, vs. 20% to Rick Santorum and 10% to Ron Paul—Mitt Romney took just 20% of them. Gingrich also won among "somewhat conservative" voters and independents. Romney won "moderate or liberal" voters. More»

GOP voters angry, stuck with bad candidates, say pundits

(NEWSER) - Newt Gingrich's big win in South Carolina has the Republican establishment squirming and political experts churning, trying to explain what the results mean:

• GOP base in revolt. "People are mad as hell they are about to be stuck with another boring, moderate, uninspiring choice that has at best a 50/50 shot at losing to the worst president since Carter," says Erick Ericson at RedState . "Basically, today’s vote is about Republican grassroots giving the Washington Republican establishment the finger."
• Not about policy, but soul. Gingrich and Mitt Romney don't have many big policy differences; instead this is a debate about the emotion and soul of the Republican Party, reports the AP : 'It might not be pretty."

To reject questions about them as 'trash' is hypocritical: Ariel Levy

(NEWSER) - Newt Gingrich may have been "frankly astounded" at John King's "trash" question last night about his ex-wife—but that's "pretty rich" coming from him, notes Ariel Levy in the New Yorker . Indeed, "I am frankly astounded that Gingrich hasn’t been asked more about his various affairs and divorces," Levy notes. Such questions are totally legitimate considering, first, "how merciless and, obviously, hypocritical he was when, as Speaker of the House, he was calling for Clinton’s head on a plate during Monicagate." More»