Gingrich Is Off And Not Running Gop’s Most Obvious Non-Candidate Is Busy

Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Enter Newt Gingrich to fill the void, at least temporarily.

With a twinkle in his eye, the speaker of the House heads Friday to New Hampshire, ostensibly to help raise money for a colleague and perhaps see a moose. But he also will tour the state, whose first-in-the-nationprimary makes it an incubator of presidential ambitions.

The trip to New Hampshire is not the only thing fueling speculation that the Georgia Republican might jump into the race for his party’s presidential nomination.

Today, he speaks to a business group from Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation presidential precinct caucuses. Also this week, he started a national tour that will take him to 25 cities to promote his new book.

This is titillating to many Republicans so far disenchanted with the nine presidential candidates wooing them for their support. Republicans at a Miami dinner last week gave Gingrich an enthusiastic standing ovation after applauding only politely for several real presidential candidates.

And the prospect whets the appetites of reporters, who know the mercurial and combative Gingrich makes better copy than the more scripted and careful candidates like Sens. Bob Dole of Kansas or Phil Gramm of Texas. Nearly 200 reporters and television crews, including some from Europe, will follow Gingrich around New Hampshire in a caravan normally not seen until the last weeks of a presidential campaign.

Even President Clinton, who will be in New Hampshire Sunday to give the commencement address at Dartmouth College, seldom draws as much attention.

“If you hear anything up here, it’s that there’s not much excitement,” said Fred Kocher, a Manchester, N.H., lawyer who is helping arrange the Gingrich pilgrimage.

Though Dole holds a commanding lead in New Hampshire, he does not excite many people, Kocher said.

“And the other candidates are just not exciting people.”

Gingrich “certainly gets hearts beating rapidly … the field by and large has not done that so far,” said Gary Bauer, an influential conservative who heads the Family Research Council.

Gramm, one of the contenders who has failed so far to win the hearts of New Hampshire voters, is not worried about the enthusiasm for Gingrich, said Gramm spokesman Gary Koops.

“You have nine candidates in the race from conservative to moderate on a variety of issues,” Koops said. “Even when you have a nominee, you’ll find people dissatisfied with the field … democracy is not unanimous.”

Still, said Bauer, none of the official candidates has yet proven that he can win over a majority of the Republican party by appealing to both economic and social conservatives in the party.

“A good bit of the party is still looking for a Reaganesque-type figure, someone who can combine the small-government, low-tax message with the traditional-values message,” Bauer said.

“A significant part of the grass roots thinks Gingrich could be that person.”

Indeed, he is wildly popular with many Republicans, particularly those who credit him with delivering Republicans to power in the House after a 40-year exile.

The New Hampshire trip originally was scheduled as a brief vacation at the lodge owned by Rep. Bill Zeliff, R-N.H., and an appearance at a fund-raising dinner for Zeliff. But excitement over his visit soon swelled the brief trip to a three-day tour.

A sign of devotion to Gingrich: after he expressed a desire to see a moose while there, local Republicans started “hanging out in the woods … keeping their eyes on where the moose are hanging out … so we can take him there,” Kocher said.

But if he is the undisputed GOP leader to some, his is the face of evil to others.

Polls consistently show that Gingrich has higher negative ratings than positive. At a book convention Monday in Chicago, he was both heckled by protesters and then applauded by participants.

For his part, Gingrich is playing the role of tease.

Earlier this year, he announced that he would not seek the nomination. But he has re-opened that door in recent weeks. Last week, he told Business Week magazine that he would only run if drafted, if “seven million people show up Tuesday morning with a draft petition and beg me.”

There is no doubt that Gingrich thinks about what life will be like after the 1996 election. If Clinton wins re-election and Gingrich and the GOP retain power, he will remain the most powerful Republican in the country. But if Dole or another Republican wins the White House, Gingrich would fall under the new president’s shadow.

But Gingrich also concedes that he thinks about the sales of his new book, “To Renew America.” As long as he’s a potential presidential candidate, the interest in his book tour and his book will be greater.