After the press largely wrote him off over the summer, former House speaker Newt Gingrich has quietly risen to third place in several recent GOP presidential polls. And while political strategists couldn't agree on whether Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, or Rick Perry won this week's GOP debate in Las Vegas, all seemed to think that Gingrich's performance bolstered his campaign. Does Gingrich now have a real shot at the nomination?
Gingrich always was a contender: Nobody should have been surprised to see that Gingrich is the "smartest and best debater" in the field, says an anonymous GOP operative, as quoted by Jim Geraghty at National Review. The "pundits who said his campaign was over" didn't know what they were talking about. Romney is so "robotic" and moderate that he "can't really move his numbers" any higher than they are now, so it may eventually come down to Perry and Gingrich.
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