Newt Gingrich returns to Atlanta today showing signs of life in a presidential campaign that was all but comatose when he was last here in early October.
Gingrich, who will speak to 7th District Republicans in Duluth, has enjoyed a mild surge in recent weeks and is threatening to break into the top tier of GOP candidates. It's a bout of cautious optimism for a candidate dismissed as an "asterisk" by The Associated Press in late September.
The difference, his spokesman said, is "a functioning campaign."
"We've been a functioning campaign since mid-August," spokesman R.C. Hammond said. "We just didn't tell anyone."
Before then, the former Georgia congressman's bid was crippled by a lack of money, a lack of interest and a plethora of self-inflicted mistakes. Since then, Hammond said, the steady round of candidate debates has helped Gingrich recover.
"We have money to do things [now]," Hammond said, "to hire staff, to do events. We became very thrifty and looked at the debates as free air time."
The strategy is starting to pay off. After consistently wallowing in the single digits in most polls, Gingrich has registered in double digits in many surveys over the past two weeks -- good enough to challenge Texas Gov. Rick Perry for third place, and behind front-runners Mitt Romney and Georgia's Herman Cain, who have both hovered near 25 percent support in polling.
Now, the campaign is reaping the benefit: Cash, and more of it. Hammond said the campaign raised more than $1 million in October, a significant amount for a candidate that had raised less than $3 million through Sept. 30, after about four months of campaigning. The bump in money has led to more events and more staff and more attention from many in the media who have recently given Gingrich another look.
Gingrich can thank people like Amber Hayes for keeping him going.
Hayes, 29, of Warner Robins said she's liked Gingrich "for a while."
"Before he was even running I've always followed him. I started to see the uptick in the polls and that kind of excited me and I finally decided to throw my support behind him," Hayes said, adding that she contributed to his campaign this week.
Hammond said the strategy for Gingrich hasn't changed: Advance the message, present his ideas and be prepared to strike at the right time.
U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., had her turn in the top tier and failed; Perry, too, seems to have stumbled when it was his shot. Cain has managed to hold on longer than the others, but appears to be dealing with a new crisis every day.
Now, with Cain dealing with the fallout from accusations of sexual harassment, Gingrich can try to position himself as the "anti-Romney candidate," Hammond said. The former Massachusetts governor leads the GOP race but has not been able to crack much more than 25 percent in the polls, meaning three-quarters of the GOP electorate either remains uncommitted or wants someone else. The key for Gingrich -- and Cain and Perry -- is to be that other candidate.
"Everybody that supports Newt expected from the start this was going to be an uphill battle," U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., said. Scott is one of four Republican Georgia congressmen to endorse Gingrich. "Quite honestly, it has been kind of the way I expected it to work from the start."
In Carrollton, where Gingrich first got his start in politics, former colleague Mel Steely said Gingrich's supporters are gaining hope but that the candidate himself never lost it.
"The idea was to come in and stay in the race long enough to get people to listen to him," said Steely, author of Gingrich's biography who taught with Gingrich at West Georgia College [now the University of West Georgia]. "I think it's worked well."
Gingrich has followed the political theory that if you're not a voter's first choice, make sure you are his second choice.
"The Republican electorate is fragmented right now," Steely said.
David Peterson, a professor of political science at Iowa State University, said Gingrich "is a smart candidate and has taken a strong role in the debates."
But Peterson questions whether it is enough.
"I still don't see much of a sign of a strong campaign organization or the type of fund raising necessary for him to be successful," Peterson said. "Most importantly, he isn't getting the type of endorsements from within the party. The best research on the topic suggests that this ‘invisible primary' is the key to winning and Gingrich is lagging behind the other candidates."
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