Cherokee Co. mechanic is gung ho for Gingrich

By Daniel Malloy

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Joe Robert had open heart surgery just before Christmas, and his doctor said he shouldn’t be getting too excited, but the Cherokee County auto mechanic can’t help himself.

So he stood and hollered and got his blood pumping in a hotel conference room Monday morning as Newt Gingrich vowed to “run a campaign that creates a dramatic choice and that enables us to win a decisive victory from Barack Obama.” Robert has followed Gingrich to the South Carolina and Florida Republican presidential primaries in a pickup truck, with a large sign attached: “Give a hoot. Give Obama the boot. Vote Newt in 2012.”

Robert said he and his wife were curious “going down the highway whether we’d get toots and horns or [middle] fingers. … I’ve put 7,500 miles on the truck with those signs and we ain’t gotten a finger yet.”

Georgia’s primary is March 6, along with several other states in a day known as Super Tuesday. In anticipation of the moment, Robert said he plans to turn his auto repair shop – My Mechanic Joe in Woodstock – into the Cherokee County Gingrich headquarters.

“I think that we need to be involved as a people in our government and this is my piece of involvement,” he said.

Robert said he would have liked to continue following Gingrich but his wife could only get one day off of work and they had to get home -- a 6-hour drive each way for a 20-minute speech, a handshake and a picture.

Robert, who first met Gingrich when the former West Georgia Congressman was campaigning in 1994, said he did a similar public profession of faith for John McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, but "I feel a lot more positive energy" this time for Gingrich, as well as a shared Georgia connection.

"I'm having a great time," he said. "I believe everything Newt says, and I know he’s got the knowledge and experience to do what he says he can, and I’m sure he will."