Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will make it official today that he is running for President. Actually winning the Republican nomination in 2012 would certainly surprise many political observers in Washington, D.C.
Gingrich's official entry adds a little steam to a GOP race that so far has been very quiet, as while Republicans have been deciding whether or not to run, President Obama has been raising big money for his re-election bid.
And that was true again on Tuesday, as Mr. Obama held a pair of fundraisers in the Democratic stronghold of Austin, Texas, netting another $2 million, while the top tier of GOP candidates aren't even in the race officially as yet.
In talking about Gingrich around Washington, D.C., there are a lot of people who don't give him much of a chance for the GOP nod. He is looked at by some as the Old Guard, not at the forefront of today's calls for change.
It was a bit different back in 1994, when Gingrich led Republicans to their big victories in elections that year, producing what was called the "Republican Revolution" as he became the first GOP Speaker of the House in 40 years.
But for Gingrich, it was a tumultuous time, as after less than four years as Speaker, he resigned from the House to avoid being pushed out by fellow Republicans after the 1998 elections, where Republicans had a lackluster showing.
I've often thought Gingrich was the Republican version of Bill Clinton. Both men are true political thinkers who have not been afraid to consider outside-the-lines solutions to political questions.
But both also have had flawed personal lives, even while they were at the top of their game.
While Clinton had the Monica Lewinsky scandal, at the exact same time that Speaker Gingrich was leading the charge against the President, the Georgia Republican was having an affair of his own with a younger woman who worked on Capitol Hill. And we will again hear the stories of how he delivered the news of a divorce to his first wife.
But both men have also worked hard to move past their personal issues and get themselves back to the center of politics, and now Gingrich will try to take the next step with a bid for the White House.
While Gingrich rose to power on Capitol Hill, there is no obvious feeling of support for him among Republicans now in the Congress, and that was very evident yesterday as I chatted with GOP lawmakers.
I pestered a few GOP Senators about Gingrich getting into the race, and you could tell by their reactions that Newt wasn't exactly at the top of their own list for the GOP nominee.
"The more the merrier," said Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) about making the GOP field larger. Graham told me that he expected Gingrich to do well with voters in the Palmetto State, though the South Carolina Republican was clearly not making any type of endorsement.
Also a bit lukewarm about a Gingrich candidacy was a fellow Georgian, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), who was also not ready to endorse his home state candidate when I caught up with him in the halls of the Capitol yesterday.
"It's difficult to handicap anybody in the race at this time," Chambliss told me.
But polls tell a different story about Gingrich, who has had unfavorable ratings just a notch below those for Sarah Palin.
A victory for Gingrich would be a big story to say the least, but knowing him for as long as I have been around Congress, it can't be ruled out.
I started covering Gingrich directly in the 1980's when he was the only Republican in the delegation from Georgia. Lots of people told me there was no way he would become anything, that he was nothing but a bomb thrower.
Democrats hated his guts, and a lot of Republicans couldn't stand him either.
People said there was no way Gingrich could be elected to the post of GOP Whip - but he won.
And there was no way he could bring down a Democratic Speaker of the House - which he did (Jim Wright).
After that, there was no way Gingrich could effectively lead his party in the House - and there was certainly no way he could ever become Speaker.
But Gingrich did all of those things, even though much of it was done with the deft touch of a bull in a china shop.
I saw him jab so many times at Speaker Tip O'Neill that O'Neill lost his cool one day on the floor of the House and verbally attacked Gingrich. O'Neill's words were "taken down," a rare legislative punishment for a personal attack in debate that had never been leveled against a sitting Speaker before that day.
So while it would be a longshot for Gingrich to win the Republican nomination, I'm going to remind myself that history shouldn't be ignored.
Maybe Newt has a chance.
Most people don't believe it, but as they say about football, they play the game for a reason.
