The elephantine EGO of Newt Gingrich (2008)

[AnnInLa]

Gingrich '08: The stealth candidate

The controversial former House Speaker seems to throw his hat in the ring as a GOP presidential candidate, and promises that health care reform will be the big issue. An exclusive Fortune interview.
By Nina Easton, Fortune Washington bureau chief
November 21 2006: 3:26 PM EST

WASHINGTON (Fortune) -- Even a crisp Guinness stout can't chill the note of exasperation coming out of Newt Gingrich's mouth. "You still don't get it, do you?" he asks. The subject is the 2008 presidential race and whether the former speaker of the House will run. The news is that Gingrich is running, but not on any official campaign trail.

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The radical realist who defied conventional wisdom 12 years ago by stealing the House out from under the noses of entrenched Democrats now plans a surprise attack for the presidency. "I'm going to tell you something, and whether or not it's plausible given the world you come out of is your problem," he tells Fortune. "I am not 'running' for president. I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen." So he's running, only without yet formally saying so. (Gingrich spokesperson Rick Taylor responds.)

While other potential competitors like Arizona Senator John McCain, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney build staff and hire consultants, Gingrich revealed to Fortune that he plans to create a draft-Newt "wave" by building grassroots support for his health care, national security and energy independence ideas - all of which he has been peddling to corporate audiences over the past six years. "Nice people," Gingrich says of his GOP competitors. "But we're not in the same business. They're running for president. I'm running to change the country."

In December, Gingrich will launch a 527 group, called "American Solutions for Winning the Future," that will enable him to raise and spend unlimited money on behalf of this effort. In January, he will conduct a strategy meeting with advisers. By next fall, he'll decide whether to make a bid official - a late start by any recent historical standard.

It's a strategy that would be considered far-fetched if this were any other candidate. But Gingrich has to be taken seriously. Polls place him third in the GOP presidential nomination race, behind Giuliani and McCain. And a recent internal GOP poll recently put him second, and ahead of McCain.

much more (including comparing himself to Lincoln) at:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/20/magazines/fortune/newt.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes