Gingrich: Another Contract with America

The Chicago Tribune reported November 13 that former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich says Republicans should have a common set of principles to offer Americans before the 2010 elections. Gingrich referred to a potential unified GOP position as possibly a "Contract for America" or "some other device."

Speaking on C-SPAN's Cable Center Class, Gingrich, who brought Republicans the Contract with America in 1994, said, "I've been talking with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. He is developing a first principles model that I think is a very exciting , positive step in the right direction. B September, it might be very, very good for the Republicans in the House and Senate to have a common ground on which to campaign, whether they call it a Contract for America or some other device. Having a positive set of things that say, 'if you elect us, these are the positive steps we will take, may well be the key building block to really become the alternative party, not the opposition party.''

Gingrich is mulling a run for president in 2012.

The Tribune continues: "The fabled Contract which Gingrich, Dick Armey, Tom Delay and others fashioned six weeks before the midterm congressional elections of 1994 led to a GOP takeover of the House that kept a newly elected Democratic president in check - a formula that the GOP would love to revive for the 2010 midterms. A Gallup Poll this week found that Republicans are doing well in the 'generic candidate' race - with more people saying they are likely to support a Republican than those saying they are likely to support a Democrat. Gingrich suggests that his party needs to put more than names on those ballots, and add some principled promises as well."

Gingrich said, "We didn't do the Contract until very late in the campaign. You could begin to put together a set of firs principles around which 80 percent of the country would rally... and then come Labor Day, you could begin to look a what are the five or 10 biggest things that the Republicans could offer as their contract for America.''

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/11/gingrich_contract_with_america.html