The return of Bad Newt

By: Maggie Haberman and Alexander Burns
Politico.com
December 2, 2011 07:31 PM EST

WEST DES MOINES - Bad Newt’s coming back.

The all-too-familiar character from the 1990s has only peeked out in public a handful of times so far. But already, Newt Gingrich – flush with pride over new polls showing his left-for-dead candidacy now leading the pack – is letting his healthy ego roam free again, littering the campaign trail with grand pronouncements about his celebrity, his significance in political history and his ability to transform America.

“I helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the Congress,” Gingrich said this week on Sean Hannity’s show.

“I’m going to be the nominee,” he informed ABC News while in Iowa.

“I was charging $60,000 a speech and the number of speeches was going up, not down,” Gingrich said in South Carolina, explaining why he didn’t actually need his consulting fee from Freddie Mac. “Normally, celebrities leave and they gradually sell fewer speeches every year. We were selling more.”

(More here.)