A couple of the Iowa political insiders who left Newt Gingrich’s Iowa presidential campaign this past spring are back working for Gingrich again and, with a little more than a month to go before votes are cast in Iowa, there’s a mad rush to build a functioning Gingrich campaign apparatus here.
Jeremy Freeman, 20, an Iowa State University student, has just this month decided that Gingrich will get his vote on Caucus Night.
“I looked at every candidate…and what I like about Newt is the sheer brilliance of the man,” Freeman said during an interview with Radio Iowa. “Nobody can out-think him.”
Freeman saw many of the 2012 Republican presidential candidates in person and kept up with what happened in this fall’s televised debates.
“I just really don’t think Barack Obama can stand up to him in a debate,” Freeman said of Gingrich.
The political fortunes of Gingrich rose steadily this fall as Gingrich turned in notable performances in the debates. The Gingrich campaign calls it “Newt-mentum” and Will Rogers, the former Gingrich political director in Iowa, said Gingrich has gained ground because he has been able to deliver a “coherent message” when people started paying attention.
“I think Newt’s going to surprise a lot of people,” Rogers said during an interview with Radio Iowa. “Going back to May of this year there were a lot of the national pundits who said his campaign was over with — but with his momentum in Iowa and New Hampshire, at this point he could certainly be our party nominee.”
Rogers has made a host of other commitments since leaving the Gingrich campaign on May 31, so he isn’t going back on the Gingrich campaign payroll. Two other Iowans who left in June have returned. Katie Koberg helped organize a series of Gingrich campaign events this past spring which drew hundreds of potential supporters, but she was among the mass exodus of staff from the Gingrich campaign after Gingrich went on a 10-day cruise in Greece with his wife. About 10 days ago, Koberg returned to the Gingrich campaign staff.
“The volunteers are coming out of the woodwork, yet again,” Koberg said during an interview with Radio Iowa earlier today. “The crowds of people who are showing up in other states are also tremendous and promising.”
Gingrich is due in Iowa Thursday for at a Polk County GOP banquet in Urbandale. Organizers say a crush of media and reporters from as far away as Sweden plan to cover the event and ticket sales are “through the roof.”