Gingrich plays counselor to GOP in both chambers

Newt Gingrich, who led the GOP takeover of the House in 1994, is now coaching Republicans on how to recapture the Senate.

The former House Speaker and icon of the right is quietly expanding his influence in the upper chamber, where he is selling ideas on refurbishing the GOP’s image. Facing the harshest climate for their party in over a decade, Senate Republicans are hungry for his counsel.

{mosads}“He’s trying to identify a path to victory in the fall,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), adding, “It would be wise for us to listen.”

For Gingrich, helping Republicans mend their reputation is a chance to rehabilitate his own. A polarizing figure in the 1990s, he attracted a groundswell of conservative support when he flirted with a presidential run last year, leading his allies to believe he could be a future contender for the White House.   

Widely regarded as a visionary for his party, Gingrich has often fashioned himself as a friendly critic of Republicans since he left Congress in 1999. Though he still has the ear of many in the House, some bristled at an open letter he sent last month exhorting the GOP leadership to take drastic action to avoid huge losses in November.

Lately, Gingrich has drawn more willing pupils in the upper chamber, where Republicans mostly have a foggier memory of his stumbles as Speaker and view him primarily as a brilliant tactician with an arsenal of ideas. Senate Republicans, who arguably have a tougher battle this fall than do their counterparts in the House, are also eager for help.

“I refer to Newt Gingrich as the Mount Vesuvius of ideas. He’s got a lot of them — and many of them are very, very good,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the vice chairman of the Republican Conference.

A spokesman for Gingrich, Joe DeSantis, quibbled with the notion that Gingrich is chiefly concerned with helping Republicans regain power. He said his boss’s top priority is working with Democrats and Republicans to achieve a set of reforms. “Obviously, he is a partisan person. But he believes that in order to get the scale of change we need, that it has to occur in both parties,” he said.

After launching his second think tank, American Solutions for Winning the Future, last year, Gingrich rolled out a series of policy prescriptions for the country. He has worked to soften his hard-right image, sharing polling data with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) last year and appearing side by side with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a recent ad urging action on climate change.

But he has also increased his collaboration with Senate Republicans, prodding them to ditch tired refrains on taxes and other perennial GOP issues and to embrace Democrats’ call for change.

“His general advice is: Be in touch, don’t be just repeating things you heard from the ’70s and the ’80s,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), a longtime Gingrich ally who heads the Senate GOP conference.

Last month, Gingrich spoke to the Senate Republican chiefs of staff about legislation that could attract broad public support. In February, Alexander invited him to address the Republican Conference at its weekly lunch, a privilege usually reserved for the president, vice president or a Cabinet member.

He has met with several individual Senate offices as well as with smaller groups of aides, often with one or two members present, according to people familiar with the meetings. “He is more visible, certainly,” Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) said.

Several people close to Gingrich doubt that his recent efforts on the Hill are driven by any lingering presidential ambitions he might have.

He does it “because he cares,” Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.) said.

Gingrich would be compelled to share his knowledge regardless of any personal motive, American Conservative Union President David Keene argued.

“When he was Speaker, part of the problem was that he wanted to be America’s teacher. He does this because that’s what he is, that’s who he is,” Keene, a columnist for The Hill, said.

“People look at him as a tremendous asset, as a communicator and as a source of ideas  —  and that’s probably as far as it goes,” he added.

At the February lunch, Gingrich told Republicans that they should agree with Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the Democratic nominee for president, when he calls for changing Washington — but then press him on how he would do it, according to a GOP leadership aide who was present.

Gingrich argued the strategy would expose Obama’s weak spot: that he has presented no clear plan for achieving reform because he fears irking key Democratic constituencies. “When he said that, you could see people around the room thinking, ‘He has a good point,’ ” the aide said.

Gingrich has adopted a light touch with the senators, who are not known for lapping up advice from outsiders, much less from a former House member. “For the Speaker of the other body, one thing he’s learned over the years is this is the Senate and not the House; he doesn’t intrude,” Alexander said.

Not every GOP senator agrees that Gingrich holds the answers. Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) said his colleagues should look to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the GOP presidential nominee, if they want a model to follow.

“I remember Newt being in charge. I remember losing seats on his watch. So there’s no magic to it,” said Graham, one of the Republicans whom Gingrich helped sweep into office in 1994 but who later soured on him.

Many Republicans marvel at Gingrich’s talent for churning out ideas, even if some of them are non-starters. “You may not like them all, but you’ve got plenty of them to chose from,” Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), the GOP whip, said.

Gingrich has also been popping in on informal meetings in the House, where he has maintained a base of fans. “A surprising number of members still get a substantial amount of stuff from Newt,” English said.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said Gingrich’s recent missive to House leaders “did wake some people up” even though it rankled some members: “Some people said, ‘You know, he could have told us that in private.’ ”

As for the senators, Simpson, who served as Speaker in the Idaho legislature, said, “I’m pleased they’re listening to him.”