Posted under Election 2012
Newt Gingrich isn’t letting the fact his campaign team, his advisors, managers and fundraisers, have basically deserted him in his bid for the White House in 2012. In fact he says he’s been “liberated” to run the kind of campaign he now wishes to run.
There’s no doubt Gingrich sees himself as the John McCain of 2012, a candidate abandoned and left for dead by everyone else but who, without a burdensome campaign infrastructure, is free to be the candidate he wishes to be and run his campaign the way he wishes to and uses this freedom to impress the people enough in one of the early primary states to lead him to victory after traveling up and down the state in town and through every valley. Actually he cannot travel at all now (unless its on someone else’s dime like this Tea Party tour of Iowa) given his campaign has no money coming in and he has more bills to pay at Tiffany’s.
But it doesn’t matter because Newt is going to campaign the new fashioned way from the new school. Instead of church basements in Iowa and coffee klatches in New Hampshire, Newt will be standing social media on its head to get his message out.
From the comfort of his Atlanta home and at little cost, Gingrich can use Facebook and Twitter and campaign blogs and forums, anything and everything one can do from a laptop to speak to the people where they are at (over half over Americans are on Facebook.) When social media was developed as a political tool all the back to the Dean campaign of 2004, it was not only a way campaigns could reach voters, but also allowed voters to talk back to campaign and interact with them.
But that won’t happen quite that way with NEWT 2012. No it’s going to be he talks, you listen. For you see, only Newt is the only one capable of explaining his ideas to the people and they are ideas the people must listen to if the country is to be saved. This picture I’ve included pretty much symbolizes his campaign – the big figure on the screen talking down at you, the way Orwell envisioned it.
All of this would be a vainglorious exercise if weren’t for the fact the intellectual 
capacities of many voters are so limited that Gingrich can simply talk gibberish and people will listen to him. How many times have you heard a Republican politician or pundit meet with Gingrich privately or in small groups and come away impressed at the intellectual tour-de-forces he offers. Of course, BS artists and use car salesmen are good at this too but one doesn’t consider them Presidential material. But Newt is counting on the fact people will hear him and consider him the smartest person in the room and if enough people do they’ll vote for him even if he hasn’t shook their hand. Social media and good debate performances could if people are gullible enough to fall for it, sway persons his way.
It’s easy to make fun of the Gingrich effort at the White House right now but should remember there are enough suckers to fall for his act (that how he got to Speaker). Gingrich’s problems have been wearing well with people over time, not giving a first bad impression. If he succeeds, he’ll certainly change campaigning forever.
RedPhillips on 26 Jun 2011 at 5:51 pm #
“From the comfort of his Atlanta home and at little cost, Gingrich can use Facebook and Twitter and campaign blogs and forums, anything and everything one can do from a laptop to speak to the people where they are at (over half over Americans are on Facebook.)”
Actually this kind of campaign might not be a bad idea for a third party candidate to run. Imagine the CP nominee, for example, popping up at FreeRepublic, RedState, (well until Erick banned him) AmSpec, etc. weighing in on the issues of the day and getting his name out.
roho on 27 Jun 2011 at 1:07 am #
Perhaps the goal is Federal Matching Funds, and then back to vacationing?