Gingrich ruling nothing out

By Linda Douglass, National Journal.com

updated 8:14 a.m. ET Sept. 14, 2007

WASHINGTON - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been toying with the idea of jumping into the GOP presidential contest, sat down with National Journal's Linda Douglass this week to discuss the 2008 candidate fields, the state of American politics and his own future. Edited excerpts follow. For previous Insider Interviews, click here.

Linda Douglass: You said fairly recently that the Democrats had a very high likelihood of winning the presidency next year.

Newt Gingrich: I think that the country, after the last couple of years, has a bias in favor of change -- I think probably starting with [Hurricane] Katrina and coming through Baghdad and the whole sense of too much spending. And you sense a lack of enthusiasm in the conservative base, and you sense a stunning level of intensity in the anti-war Left. And so you just look at the dynamics and you have to say the odds are probably 80-20 [in the Democrats' favor].

Douglass: 80-20?

Gingrich: Yeah. That's my guess. Now, it could change. If you had a [Republican] candidate who could break out and who could say, "Obviously, we need to change pretty dramatically, and the party of trial lawyers, public employee unions, [and] left-wing ideologues probably can't change," and could force Hillary [Rodham Clinton] or Barack Obama or whomever to be the defender of failed bureaucracies, then I think you could see a Republican win next year. But I don't think they can win by passively staying within the framework of where we have been.

Douglass: Let's talk about the Republicans who are in the race, starting with former Governor

NBC News video Gingrich shares his strategy for Iraq May 20: Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks with Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press" about his ideas for Iraq. Meet the Press

Mitt Romney. Is he the kind of visionary you think the country needs?

Gingrich: Look, I think there are three or four possible Republican nominees -- [Rudy] Giuliani, Romney, [Fred] Thompson, [Mike] Huckabee , and, based on his recent re-energizing, [John] McCain . All of them are smart people. None of them have yet broken out and begun to define a fundamentally different future.

Douglass: You did say at one point that McCain was deeply at odds with the GOP base and that that would affect his chances. You seem to have changed your view somewhat.

Gingrich: He has recognized that the Senate immigration bill that he supported was hopeless. McCain has moved much closer to the Republican base. The Republican base hasn't moved closer to McCain. And on issues of war and on issues of honor and military capability, John McCain has an extraordinary personal story.

Douglass: Giuliani supports abortion rights and certainly some forms of gun control. Isn't he also deeply at odds with the base?

Gingrich: I think part of the difference was that there are no Giuliani-Kennedy bills. There are no Giuliani-Feingold bills. Giuliani is a New York, moderate Republican. But he hasn't gone out of his way to pick fights with the Republican base.

Douglass: Fred Thompson's rollout has generally not gotten rave reviews. What do you think of it and of him?

Gingrich: I think that any Republican has to have a core, direct, compelling message of why they would be different than [President] Bush and why they would be different than Clinton. And they have to be able to say it in 30 seconds. And they have to be able to say it so that people in their living room believe it matters to them and their family. None of our candidates have yet found that rhythm.

Douglass: What aren't the Republicans saying that they should be?

Gingrich: We need very bold, dramatic change, change at every level -- from school board to city council to county commission to state legislatures to the presidency. That's what the Republican Party has to stand for. And, frankly, the Republican Party hasn't stood for that.

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