DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — For Newt Gingrich, persistence has its rewards. Four months after his early missteps nearly doomed his presidential aspirations, he has defied expectations, crept up in the polls and become a draw on the campaign trail.
His tenacity has also been a boon in other ways. It has bolstered his personal brand as the Republican Party’s venerated idea man, who on Thursday released a revamped version of his 1994 “Contract With America.” It has provided a platform to promote his vast catalogue of books and documentaries. It has even helped his wife, Callista, whose new children’s book recently shot to No. 3 on Amazon’s list of bestsellers.
Federal election law allows candidates to use small portions of their campaign funds to promote their books. But the cross-promotion, and the impression that Gingrich is not campaigning heavily, has prompted speculation that his efforts are motivated by something other than a desire to become president.
That was even the subject of a “Saturday Night Live” parody of the recent Republican debate, with the Gingrich character acknowledging his lack of interest in the campaign and walking off stage.
Gingrich says he has done nothing improper by intertwining his campaign with his promotional activities, and during his remarks at an event here this week emphasized that he is committed to his presidential campaign — but not before giving a plug to his wife’s book, “Sweet Land of Liberty,” featuring Ellis the Elephant.
“I just want to say on behalf of Callista — you should take a bow later,” he joked during his campaign remarks at the Moose Lodge here, where he had attracted a standing-room-only crowd.
The success of Callista’s book, he said, was evidence that “there is such a hunger among parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles for children to learn about America, and they know that patriotism in its traditional form is simply not being taught in the schools.”
Gingrich’s campaign appearance in Doylestown was followed a few hours later by a screening in Philadelphia of his film about American exceptionalism, “A City Upon a Hill.” That was for sale alongside several of the Gingrich couple’s books.
At the Conservative Political Action Committee gathering and presidential debate in Florida last week, Gingrich plugged his wife’s new book twice during his remarks. The event also featured an airing of one of his other films, “Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny.”
In an interview, Gingrich said he is uniquely qualified to be president because of his two decades as a member of Congress, his four years as House speaker, his work outside government and the scale of the challenges faced by the country.
“I’m the only one running who worked with Reagan,” he said. “I’m the only person running who worked with [former British prime minister Margaret] Thatcher. I have a pretty good sense of how you solve these things. I’ve actually done it in Washington.”
The scale of his 21st Century Contract With America “is breathtaking,” he added, “and I’m prepared to spend the next 10 years of my life implementing it.”
The new, 26-page contract — which his aides said he typed up here and there on his BlackBerry — encompasses what Gingrich says are bold solutions for the nation’s most challenging problems. His proposals include replacing last year’s health-care overhaul with a more “pro-market” version, simplifying the tax code to reduce the burden on corporations and individuals and revamping Social Security to allow young people to save some of their contributions in private accounts.
R.C. Hammond, a Gingrich spokesman, said the campaign has recovered since top staffers left en masse in June after complaining that the former House speaker didn’t appear serious about running for president. There are about 15 paid staffers, and the campaign has offices in Florida, Virginia and Georgia. Gingrich will have spent 24 out of 30 days in September on the road for the campaign, and expects to ramp up his efforts, Hammond said.
The exodus of the campaign staffers was but one stumble early in the campaign. He alienated many Republicans when he called Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget plan “right-wing social engineering,” which he later retracted. He struggled to explain how the couple had carried as much as $500,000 in debt on a revolving charge account at Tiffany. And his last campaign finance report showed that his campaign was $1 million in debt.
But his fortunes shifted with the debates, Gingrich said. Indeed, many of those who came to this tea-party-sponsored town hall meeting said they were impressed by Gingrich’s performances and won over by his confident demeanor, his depth of knowledge and his clear positions.
All of that comes easy for him, his staff said.
“Debate prep for Newt is a Diet Coke,” Hammond said.
Several in the audience at the town hall said they appreciated his chiding of the debate moderators for pitting the candidates against one another and asking “Mickey Mouse” questions.
“When they did allow him to speak, he made so much damn sense I couldn’t even believe it,” said Judy Underwood, 54, a retiree from Bucks County who is undecided in the race.
The next campaign finance disclosure, which will include fundraising and spending totals through this month, will still show that Gingrich is carrying campaign debt, Hammond said. But it will also show that some of the debt has been paid off, that the campaign is operating within its budget and that there has been a rebound in online and grass-roots fundraising, he said.
A recent CNN/ORC International poll found that Gingrich was the third choice among Republican voters nationwide, after Perry and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, with 11 percent of the vote.
But Gingrich probably will continue to struggle to keep up with his better-funded and more sure-footed rivals.
He as much as acknowledged those challenges. “Either we’re going to organize a very large grassroots movement and win the nomination, or I suspect it will go to someone younger than me,” he said.
His struggles seemed miles away this week, when 300 people filled the Moose Lodge hall to capacity to hear him speak. Many of them had one of his books tucked under their arms, or copies of the 1994 “Contract With America,” in hopes that Gingrich would have time to sign them.
Gingrich was approachable and at ease — a vastly different image from the one he projected as a combative House speaker. This week, he cast the nation’s problems in the gravest terms, unleashing a torrent of ideas: Secure the border by 2014. Abolish all White House czars and the Department of Energy. Privatize the student loan program. Rein in an overzealous judiciary and restore God to the center of public life.
He got a standing ovation. Then he climbed into his rented black Chevy Tahoe bound for Philadelphia for the screening of his film.