THE SEARCH for a conservative standard-bearer in the US Republican presidential contest has thrown up yet another unlikely frontrunner in the shape of former House speaker Newt Gingrich. A number of polls last week put Mr Gingrich ahead of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who is seen by the political establishment as the most formidable challenger to President Barack Obama but has so far failed to win the confidence of the ideological wing of his party.
Successive conservative hopefuls have seen their campaigns crash and burn, despite Mr Romney’s failure to win over more than about one in four Republican voters. Texas governor Rick Perry’s “brain freeze” during a debate reinforced the suspicion fuelled by his critics that he was “like George Bush, just not as smart”. Herman Cain, an African-American entrepreneur and motivational speaker, remains popular among Tea Party activists but his campaign has fallen victim to old accusations of sexual harassment and to his own lack of political skills. Minnesota congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s whacky fundamentalism has failed to take her poll numbers out of single digits and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has decided to sit it out this time.
Now, just six weeks before Iowa holds the first caucus of the 2012 campaign, conservatives are placing their hopes in Mr Gingrich, a candidate whose campaign appeared to be over a few months ago when most of his top advisers resigned. They left in protest after he took off for a Greek holiday following revelations that he and his wife had a $500,000 credit line at Tiffany’s. Mr Gingrich has sought in recent days to put behind him controversy over details of his personal life, including the fact that at the same time as he was leading the fight to impeach former president Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinksy affair, he was himself having an extra-marital relationship.
It is Mr Gingrich’s professional affairs, however, that are causing his biggest headaches as he struggles to explain why government-sponsored mortgage giant Freddie Mac, a bête noire for conservatives, paid him at least $1.8 million to act as a “historian” and why his consulting firm took $37 million in fees from healthcare companies. Mr Gingrich, who has reversed his stance on everything from healthcare reform and global warming to the war on Libya, makes Mr Romney – a serial flip-flopper – look like a model of consistency. Mr Gingrich’s rise also makes Mr Romney look like the luckiest man in America. Unless, of course, you count Mr Obama.