There’s a tide that if taken at the flood … and all that. I remember Reagan in ’80, and I remember him as someone who had never voted for, even conceived of voting for, a Republican in my life; I was 31 at the time and I worked for the AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education, so my Democrat bona fides were pretty good. I just couldn’t accept all that malaise crap, era of lowered expectations, sweater-wearing crap, and I actually liked Carter when he was Governor of Georgia. Reagan was a revolutionary leader and he got people to storm the barricades for him, even a lot of people who’d never even thought of voting for a Republican before in their lives.

This may be that tide, and Newt Gingrich may have it in him to take it at its flood, but he will only be able to do that if he can capture the hopes of Americans and convince them to follow him to the barricades. We’re not talking an election, we’re talking a counter-revolution; he’s led one, maybe he has another one in him.