The Gingrich Strategy

As a sign that Newt Gingrich might know what he's doing, he is actively avoiding officially announcing that he is going to run for the Presidency, and is consequently staying out of the media spotlight. For most of the narcissists who both run for office and run other people's campaigns, this would not merely seem counterintuitive, but utterly unfathomable. But the old conventional wisdom that used to govern politics is beginning to finally die away, and it is about time.

Gingrich has publicly stated that the candidates who have gotten into the '08 Presidential Campaign already are going to die of overexposure, which apparently in his opinion is a greater evil to be feared than lack of name ID. Obviously, the stealth candidacy wouldn't work for everybody. Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) has almost no name recognition amongst rank and file voters; neither does Gov. Tom Vilsak (D-IA), Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS). Yet for candidates with the real star power like John McCain, Rudy Guliani, Hillary Clinton, and Barrack Obama, the name ID game really doesn't even need to be played.

It is quite possible that the voters are going to get candidate and campaign fatigue very quickly in the '08 cycle. I think this will be the longest campaign season that has ever been, and ever will be. 2008 will also likely be the least substantive campaign we have ever seen, and ever will see again. But it might just be that the only substantive candidate might win it for once. This is what is integral to Newt's strategy. He is going to talk about the issues facing the country, but not the candidates running for office. This keeps him out of the limelight, out of the mudslinging, and gives him opportunity to get his message out to the truly attentive voters who are already interested in the race without annoying the voters who aren't.

He's been honest and said "I'm going to decide if no front-runner has emerged by Labor Day," rather than the disingenuous garbage that has tended to flow from the lips of Presidential hopefuls, such as Hillary's favorite "I'm busy representing the people of New York in the United States Senate," and the countless Governors who have echoed similar rhetoric.

It will be interesting to see if Newt's strategy is effective. It will at least be different. And we all know America is clamoring for something different.