Gingrich in Iowa to help GOP candidates

DES MOINES – Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich hit Iowa Monday to help GOP candidates and answered questions from reporters about a possible presidential bid in 2012.

Gingrich led workshops for Iowa's GOP candidates and hosted a fundraiser for 3rd District congressional candidate Brad Zaun. He stressed to reporters that Republican prospects are positive for this year's mid-term election.

“Everywhere I go, what I'm doing is saying to people this is the decisive election, because this is the opportunity to say to Washington that we do not want a socialist government, we do not want a machine running our country, and we do not want politicians who run over the American people. And the way you say that is you win elections,” Gingrich said.

When asked about a potential run for president in 2012, Gingrich said he will likely make a decision in February or March.

He praised the presidential nominating system where Iowa hosts the first caucuses and New Hampshire holds the first primary, citing the fact that candidates have to meet voters face to face.

“I like that system. I think it's very healthy for the country, and I think it would be a huge mistake not to keep Iowa and New Hampshire as the first two engagements,” Gingrich said.

But for now, he said he is committed to spending this year helping elect Republicans.

“I think that no Republican should waste any energy worrying about 2012, until we finish maximizing the size of the victory in 2010,” Gingrich said.

GOP candidates need to communicate problems with the “Obama machine” in Washington the and the “Culver machine in Des Moines,” he said.

“We are getting deeper and deeper in debt. We are killing jobs. We are limiting our children's future. We can do dramatically better than this,” Gingrich said.

He thinks candidates need to spend most of their time explaining in a positive way the things that can be done to control spending, lower taxes and create new jobs and reform education.

And he said candidates need to campaign everywhere because Americans know the system under Obama is not working with nearly a 10 percent unemployment rate.

He sees opportunities in neighborhoods and precincts that Republicans historically have felt they couldn't compete in, and drew comparisons between this year and 1994 when Republicans took control of Congress.

“I believe they can now compete everywhere, because I think people are really truly concerned about the future, about their children's future, and about what's going to happen next,” Gingrich said.

An Iowa Democratic Party spokesman declined to respond to Gingrich's comments.

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn said the GOP has cut the Democrats' lead in registered voters in Iowa in half in the last year and called the GOP slate of candidates this year the best he's seen in his lifetime.

“We've got more candidates in districts than the Democrats do. Our candidates are out-raising them,” Strawn said.