Newt in Iowa (Video)

I managed to see Newt Gingrich at a campaign event in Iowa. As you can see, Newt and Callista walked up, shook my hand, and wished me a happy new year. I didn't have any gotcha questions (looks like Newt is on his way down in the polls anyways), but just wanted to film it to give people an idea of what Iowa is like prior to the caucuses. Basically, candidates are coming through town at stops like this constantly for months.

You can see David Gregory briefly in the video; I also saw Brett Baier from Fox and Chuck Todd from MSNBC in the crowd. It's very possible that there were more people from the media present than Gingrich supporters. It also seemed to me like there were a lot of Republicans there who weren't from Iowa: I overheard a few people say they were from Texas, and others from Louisiana. Reporters seemed to be having a hard time finding undecided Iowa voters.

One funny thing I overheard: a guy went up to two CSPAN employees handing out promotional material and said, "Oh, you're with that liberal network." It reminded by of Colbert's quote: "Reality has a well known liberal bias."

Here's the video of Gingrich walking through the crowd (hopefully no one disowns me for passing up this golden gotcha question opportunity):

Return of the RINO? Loesch Praises Romney, Huntsman, and Gingrich, Attacks Ron Paul

Gee, who could have predicted that the pundit who previously voted for Mitt Romney in a GOP primary, who praised Romney's individual mandate, and who is supporting ultimate GOP insider Ann Wagner would turn out not to be an authentic "conservative firebrand" after all? Loesch was on CNN this morning and has done a complete 180 degree turn on her branding plan as a "goth tea party rebel." It looks like someone is realizing that she'll still need to get paid after the GOP throws the tea party completely under the bus in 2012.

Notable comments from Loesch include her saying that Huntsman can be a contender in New Hampshire because "conservatives" like his "foreign policy experience," (3:00) and that the "only person who makes voters concerned" is Ron Paul. She later (5:00) said that the "grassroots" is lining up behind Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in Iowa.

You can watch it here: