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The phone rang at about 9:10 AM Sunday morning. It was my Dad. "Newt’s on," he said. "On ‘Meet the Press’." There is no other politician that I can recall that causes my Mom or Dad, not the political junkies that their son is, to spend money on a telephone call, other than Newt Gingrich. What is it? Why does Newt excite my parents? They only saw him ’cause he was on "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert. They watch Katie Couric! They’ve watched "Good Morning America" every day for like the last four decades or somethin’, for God’s sake! Newt Gingrich?
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Yep. Newt Gingrich– bane of a generation of Democrats who thought the Congress would stay firmly in their hands ’till the end of time. And my parents aren’t the only ones. I work with a small crew of ordinary, blue collar working guys. Whenever Newt has been somewhere on TV, at least one of them will mention it the next day. There’s just something about Newt…
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And then Monday, Newt hit New Hampshire. First at a book signing at (gasp!) WalMart. Following that, he spoke to about 150 people gathered at an event hosted by VictoryNH at a Manchester restaurant to hear him lay out his vision (which is rather novel and interesting, more later) for "American Solutions for Winning the Future." Both events turned up more people than I expected to see for a guy who’s not even running for president… yet. I’ll have another post up shortly about the events themselves and what Newt actually had to say. I shot a bunch of video, which I’ll YouTube.
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Book signing at NH WalMart May 21, 2007 Crowds gather at WalMArt waiting for Newt Gingrich
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Newt signs Doug’s 1995 copy of "The Little Red, White and
Blue Book of the Republican Revolution" in Manchester, NH
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I really think that the immigration "deal" reached in the Senate late last week has changed the dynamic of the race on the Republican side. I believe what we are witnessing right now is Newt Gingrich seizing the moment as an opportunity for change, which he hopes to influence. How fortunate to have a book release at this very time!