Everything Old is Newt Again

Newt Gingrich is used to being in a position of power.

But for most of this Republican primary season, the former House Speaker has been mired at the bottom of the polls, looking up at the front-runners.

Now, due in part to his strong debate performances and what some have called a lackluster GOP field, Gingrich is starting to make some noise.

First Michele Bachmann emerged as the top challenger to Mitt Romney, then Rick Perry, and more recently, Herman Cain. Could now be Gingrich's turn in the spotlight?

"I think it's his turn next," said Pat Griffin, a senior fellow at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute for Politics. "His polling numbers have crept up a little bit, and he's quietly shown up at these debates.

"Newt's now showing up in third in several polls," he added. "There's something going on out there."

A recent CNN poll of New Hampshire Republicans and independents had Gingrich fifth at 5 percent, and a Rasmussen poll had him fourth at 8 percent, even though he's done very little campaigning in the state to this point. 

The Gingrich campaign raised more than $1 million in October, its best fundraising month yet. And the recent hirings of local liberty group leader Andrew Hemingway, former Thad McCotter staffer Alex Talcott, and former Bachmann staffer Mattheau LeDuc show that he's trying to build a team here in New Hampshire.

"Because he's been low in the polls, there hasn't been a lot of attention paid to him," Griffin said. "I wonder whether or not the GOP aren't going to come down the aisle and take another look at Gingrich. He's smart – he's professorial smart – he understands (this election) is a referendum on Obama, he's an interesting guy to listen to, and he's not afraid of exchange, usually."

New Hampshire voters will have a chance to get to know Gingrich better when he visits the state later this week. He'll be one of at least four GOP candidates participating in the on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at One Liberty Lane in Hampton. The event is by invite only, but will be simulcast on the Granite Grok website.

Also attending the forum will be Rick Santorum, Gary Johnson and Buddy Roemer.

Santorum has several other New Hampshire stops scheduled for this week. Last night, he was scheduled to attend a town hall forum hosted by the Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC in Rochester, and he was scheduled to visit polling places in Nashua and Manchester this morning, and greet volunteers at his at 3:15 this afternoon.

Roemer was slated to visit Oyster River Middle School in Durham yesterday, and was scheduled to hold a "Coffee with the Candidate" event at 8:30 this morning at the Midfield Cafe in Nashua. He has events planned for Manchester and Dover on Wednesday, and will tour the Independence Museum in Exeter on Thursday at 2 p.m. On Friday, he has events planned in Hampstead and Durham.

Ron Paul is also scheduled to be in state this week. The congressman will host a jobs forum in Manchester and a town hall meeting in Berlin on Thursday, and a town hall meeting in Rochester on Friday. He's also scheduled to stop by at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, according to the store's Facebook page.

Fred Karger also has several stops scheduled, including meetings of the Deerfield and Bedford Republicans on Tuesday.

On the other side of the aisle, Vice President Joe Biden will be in state, speaking at the Capitol Center for the Arts during the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications' First Amendment Award event on Thursday.

Last week was a fairly slow one by first-in-the-nation standards, with only four candidates making stops in New Hampshire.

Jon Huntsman gave an energy policy speech at the University of New Hampshire on Tuesday, and then stopped in Portsmouth for a tour of Global Relief Technologies at Pease Tradeport.

Romney was in state for a quick , where he previewed his spending cuts plan.

Roemer was the second candidate to attend the conversations with the candidates series at The Patch in Concord on Wednesday, and also made stops in Keene and Peterborough.

Karger made stops in Concord, Hanover, Durham and Hampstead.

Rick Perry's wife, Anita Perry, was also in New Hampshire last week, with stops in Tilton, Meredith and Manchester.