“Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,–
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

The second witch from Shakespeare’s Macbeth uttered that little ditty.  I’m not sure why it appeals to me when profiling Newt, but it does.  It really does encapsulate Newt Gingrich’s run to the White House.  At the same time it describes what Newt has done to the rest of the GOP field as he rises from DEAD LAST a few months ago to third in some polls currently, and what he must do to the GOP voters to cover the final mile in the primary campaign.  But first a little bit about the man who would be king.

BIO
Born in Pennsylvania in 1943, Newt was educated at Emory and Tulane Universities.  He earned his PhD from Tulane in European History in 1971.  Newt is a professor of History and the author of 23 books.  Should Newt become President he will be only the second Commander-in-Chief to have a PhD.  Name the other President to have a PhD and Frank will come do your laundry for a week.  Frank works for Ravioli and M&M’s in equal measure.  Oh, Frank can also flip his own french toast, so there’s that.

Political Experience
Gingrich won a Congressional seat from Georgia in 1978.  In 1994 he was chose by a House majority to be the Speaker of the House.  He was the first republican to hold that seat in 40 years.  Architect of the Contract With America, Newt  also orchestrated a couple government shutdowns and led the charge on the impeachment trial against President Clinton.   As Gingrich’s popularity was dwindling already due to the government shutdowns, it really went down the drain when the impeachment of President Clinton failed to result in a resignation.  Newt’s laser focus on getting rid of Clinton was his eventual undoing.  His own party turned on him for failing to do the people business during the impeachment.  After some ethics violations, fines, losing 5 House seats to Democrats in the mid-term elections, and rebukes from the House of Representatives, Gingrich stepped down from the Speakers Chair in 1998.  He resigned his House seat in 1999.

On the Issues
On the economy Newt is a flat taxer.  He believes in a 15% rate for everyone.  This plan mirrors the plans Rick Perry and Herman Cain have put out.  He will repeal Obamacare.  At this point, who won’t repeal Obamacare.  Newt also is in favor of tax cuts to get business back on track.

Newt is big on education as you might imagine.  He favors the voucher so parents can pick the school they want and not pay tuition to a good school plus taxes the public school.  He also believes the Pell Grant system should be extended to kindergarten through 12th grade.

Newt generally mirrors the rest of the GOP field on the rest of the issues and rarely offers much in debates.  You can read his thoughts here: Newt Gingrich for President.

State of Affairs
That may be a unfortunate heading.  Truly the one thing holding Newt back are his numerous extramarital affairs.  Three have been documented and he’s been divorced twice and married 3 times. The one that will hurt is the divorce he engineered while his first wife was dying of cancer.  Surprise, she literally came back from the dead, survived and is blasting Newt when anyone puts a mic or iPhone in front of her.

However, having said all of that, the little political savant is climbing the ladder.  Left for dead by most, me included, a few months ago, Newt is one more Herman Cain accuser away from being toe to toe with Mitt.  He needs some PR help.  He comes off like a jerk when he speaks to his competitors.  That is common among genius’s I believe.  If he can soften that and then get the conversation to steer clear of his personal baggage he might pull this thing out.  He has a immense personal fortune so money won’t be a problem.  Plus if he keeps climbing support money will start to roll in.  This is the guy that scares the Romney camp the most.  The GOP establishment, i.e. the money people, can get behind Newt.  If that happens Newt can get by Herm and Mitt.

The question is can Newt get by himself.

I failed to include the Cain Train’s web link in his Bio so here it is: Herman Cain for President