The Republican Nomination For President: The Race For The Race For The White House

You're serious?

What about Fox, then? Why didn't they break the Edwards story... because of concern for his sick wife?

The story here is that ALL of the media except for the National Enquirer couldn't find anything beyond the rumors. They looked (everyone wants to be the one to break this stuff -- Gary Hart anyone?) but they couldn't find enough on it to publish it as a credible news item. The National Enquirer, not known for being limited to credible news items, did go after it on all cylinders and sure enough, it turned out to be an actual story.

This isn't a double-standard situation.

They only have sex with people they pay.)

As hard as he tries, Newt Gingrich cannot bury the past.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled to air tonight, the GOP presidential candidate's second ex-wife says she refused to go along with the idea that she share her husband with Callista Bisek, who would later become his third wife.

The interview will air just two days before the presidential primary in Christian conservative South Carolina, where Gingrich is trying to present himself as the strongest alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney.

It is also a reminder of the monumental hypocrisy Gingrich practiced in the late 1990's.

While carrying on with Bisek, Gingrich, as House Speaker, was putting the country through the ringer with a consuming, divisive and distracting attempt to impeach President Bill Clinton and remove him from office for his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Here's a brief chronology: In 1993, Newt and Marianne Gingrich had been married a dozen years when he began an affair with Callista Bisek, a House staffer who was 23 years his junior.

At roughly the same time (1995-97), President Clinton conducted an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton denied the affair in January 1998 during a deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment civil case, but admitted it in August 1998 when DNA evidence from a stained blue-dress emerged.

The House, with Gingrich as Speaker, wasted little time in trying to remove Clinton from office. By Dec. 19, 1998, Clinton had become only the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives (on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice).

While Clinton survived a Senate trial and completed his term of office with generally high job-approval ratings, the impeachment process, various ethics violations and historic losses in the 1998 midterms had taken a huge toll on Gingrich's political career.

Facing a rebellion in the Republican caucus, Gingrich announced that he would step down as Speaker and leave the House (which he did on Jan. 3, 1999).

Five months after that, on May 11, 1999, Marianne Gingrich told The Washington Post that her husband called her mother's home and requested a divorce.

The couple saw a counselor for four weeks, during which time Marianne said her husband asked for an “open marriage” so that he could continue to see whoever he wanted. When Marianne Gingrich refused, the marriage was over.

The divorce was finalized on April 6, 2000. Newt Gingrich married Bisek four months later on Aug. 18, 2000.

Gingrich would argue in 2007 that the Clinton case was different from his personal transgressions.

"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," he said, arguing that Clinton had "deliberately committed perjury."

But many would argue that the independent counsel had no business questioning a sitting president for for acts done before taking office and unrelated to the office (remember Clinton v. Jones?).

And even so, before, during and affair the Clinton impeachment, Gingrich constantly espoused family values and linked his party to wholesome family values. In fact, he gave a speech with those themes the day after asking Marianne for a divorce!

Speaker Gingrich is from a neighboring state, well-known, popular in the state, so I knew we'd have a long road ahead of us, and frankly to be in a neck-and-neck race at this last moment is kind of exciting," Romney told reporters.

Polls show Gingrich, who is from Georgia and is former speaker of the House of Representatives, gaining on Romney. The former Massachusetts governor's attempt to launch a knockout blow in the nomination race by winning the conservative southern state on Saturday is now in doubt.

Romney had another mixed debate performance Thursday night when he struggled to fend off queries about releasing his tax returns, after acknowledging this week that he pays a much lower tax rate than many working Americans. The former executive has an estimated worth of $270 million.

But Romney can afford to come in second in South Carolina and still remain at the head of the pack of Republicans.

He has more campaign funds and a stronger organization than Gingrich and the two other Republican contenders, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

Such advantages for Romney could be key in Florida, where the January 31 primary is next in the state-by-state contest to determine who will face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 elections.

"..twisted your mind into a pretzel..: -- Setanta

Well, Spendi, that's what we media types do for a living. It's our job, for goodness' sake.

It really doesn't matter whether you agree or not. Newt Gingrich is not trying to get your vote.

Republicans, in the main, believe there is double standard and are enraged by it, and Gingrich is capitalizing on it.

It really doesn't matter whether you agree or not. Newt Gingrich is not trying to get your vote.

Republicans, in the main, believe there is double standard and are enraged by it, and Gingrich is capitalizing on it.