Back in June, the news out of the Newt Gingrich presidential campaign was dire.
Top staffers quit over differences about strategy, with some citing doubts about the candidate's seriousness — especially when he and his wife went on a cruise to the Greek Islands while his rivals stumped through New Hampshire and Iowa.
But now it's December, and Gingrich suddenly sits atop the polls. As a result, his organization is growing — as is the campaign brain trust. But Gingrich's most important adviser remains himself.
A Front-Runner's Staffing Needs
For months now, Gingrich has run a stripped-down campaign. That was fine when expectations were low, and when he was not considered a real contender. But a front-runner faces greater demands and has different needs. Gingrich, though, seemed unfazed by all of that in an interview with ABC News last month, just as his surge in the polls was beginning.
You know, [Gingrich is] remarkable in that way. He has never really required people to do thinking for him. He vets ideas, but he does not depend upon his outside network to provide him with ideas.
"The challenge is pretty simple," he said. "Sooner or later something will happen, and I'll be able to deal with it or I won't ... and if I do, then there's a pretty good chance I'll be the nominee."
But now Gingrich campaign aides do acknowledge a struggle to meet the demands they now face if they hope to win. Paid staffers have been added in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
As for unpaid advisers, one of his earliest supporters is former Pennsylvania Rep. Bob Walker, who says he and Gingrich have been friends for 40 years.
Gingrich, he says, "has never really required people to do thinking for him. He vets ideas, but he does not depend upon his outside network to provide him with ideas."
Former Georgia Gov. Zell Miller is also an adviser and a national campaign co-chair; there's a newly minted national security advisory team; and this week, something else new for the Gingrich campaign — a conference call for reporters with advisers on foreign policy, Herman Pirchner and Ilan Berman, both of the American Foreign Policy Council.
Also advising Gingrich on national security are Reagan-era National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane and Clinton-era CIA chief James Woolsey.
The Iowa Caucuses
Of course, the first big test will be the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Des Moines-based Republican strategist John Stineman, who is not working with any campaign this year, says despite Gingrich's early troubles, his stable of advisers there is strong. It includes the Iowa state House majority leader and the state House speaker pro tem.
"He has some really good-quality people that are working for him, folks that understand the nature of the Iowa caucuses, grass-roots organizations," Stineman says.
But where Gingrich still falls short is the broader organization, including volunteers statewide — enough to cover 1,774 precinct sites spread across 99 counties.
"Some of the things that I'm told are challenges are things that would have been solved within the first six months of an 18-month campaign that they're facing now," he says. "Like getting collateral materials, getting the signs and stickers and banners and leaflets and mailings."
Former Rep. Greg Ganske — a member of the freshman class back in 1995 when Gingrich became speaker of the U.S. House — is another key Iowa adviser. Ganske, who is a West Des Moines plastic surgeon, says he and Gingrich often talk Iowa politics. But he adds that the candidate is already very knowledgeable on the topic.
Asked for the most important piece of advice he has offered to Gingrich, Ganske offers up some medical advice: "to stay healthy, to get your rest, to get a little exercise, to be fresh."
"I think that's what I can offer him," he adds. "Just, you know, smile and stay happy."
And that part, at least, seems to be advice Gingrich is following.
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