These comments show that Newt really gets it (now):

In Mr. Gingrich’s view, the problem with the Tom DeLay era in Congress was that Mr. DeLay was “the Hammer.” He demanded loyalty above all else, and the Republican conference was too top-down. The party governed to maintain power, and so lost touch with its electorate. And here he adds a warning: “Our natural majority in the country is a very reform majority. It’s the taxpaying majority. It’s the people who do not trust Washington, do not like seeing their money wasted, are not impressed with pork–if anything, they’re irritated by it. And either the House and Senate Republicans are going to move substantially in the next few months or they’re going to run a very real risk of losing the fall election.”

… “From a Republican perspective they’ve got to be strongly in favor of passing the tax cuts permanently. And I think this goes back to the question of who votes in an off-year election. Our base are the people who work and pay taxes. Our base cares about abolishing the death tax permanently and it cares about extending the tax cuts.” And then the kicker: “If our base sees that it can’t rely on a Republican Congress to do something that’s profoundly Republican, I think there’s a grave danger.” He spells it out: Come fall, “people will just stay home.” (source)

Newt really borked the Contract with America and the impeachment. I’m really curious what he has to say now about what he did then, and what he learned from the experience. If I wasn’t planning on Law School in the fall I’d drive up to Cobb county and volunteer for is campaign.