Gingrich Calls Pelosi Threat an "Early Christmas Gift"

UPDATE: Newt Gingrich fired back at Nancy Pelosi on Monday after the Democrat suggested that she had a "thousand pages" of potential dirt on the GOP candidate, presumably from her time on a House ethics panel that investigated Gingrich when he was the House speaker.

The Hill has the details from Gingrich's New York presser, where the Republican called Pelosi's comments "an early Christmas gift":

"Gingrich denounced the threat from Pelosi, who is now the minority leader in the House, as 'a fundamental violation of the rules of the House,' and said that if Pelosi were to disclose details of the investigation, it would expose the 'tainted ethics process the House was engaged in.' He also called for the House to condemn Pelosi if she were to reveal anything from the ethics probe."

A Pelosi spokesman told the Beltway publication that Pelosi wasn't threatening to go public with anything that isn't already out there, saying she was "clearly referring to the extensive amount of information that is in the public record, including the comprehensive committee report with which the public may not be fully aware."

Monday, Dec. 5: Based on recent poll numbers, a growing number of likely Republican voters are hoping Newt Gingrich secures his party's presidential nomination. Based on some recent comments by top Democrats, they are pretty happy with the idea themselves.

The House's top Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, had this to say in a recent interview with the Talking Points Memo: "I like Barney Frank’s quote the best, where he said 'I never thought I’d live such a good life that I would see Newt Gingrich be the nominee of the Republican party,' " the former House speaker said Friday. "That quote I think spoke for a lot of us."

Pelosi remained mostly mum on the details, but she certainly offered a pretty strong hint that she has some dirt on Gingrich, who himself held the speaker's gavel at one time. "One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich,” Pelosi said. "I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff."

Pressed for more info, Pelosi said that she'd provide it "when the time's right."

Sunday, Dec. 4: Herman Cain is out, Newt Gingrich is riding high—and there’s only a month left before Iowa’s influential caucuses get under way.

In the state’s latest Des Moines Register poll, 25 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers chose the former house speaker as their first pick, followed by 18 percent for Ron Paul and 16 percent for Mitt Romney. 

Conducted among 401 likely Republican participants in Iowa’s caucus at the end of November, the poll comes just a month after the last Register poll gauged Gingrich’s support at only 7 percent.

Gingrich’s campaign seemed in trouble over the summer, after staffers quit en masse and debt for private jet travel looked to far outweigh his cash on hand. But as Rep. Michele Bachmann proved a flash in the pan, Gov. Rick Perry fumbled repeatedly during debates, and Herman Cain’s own reported dalliances brought him down, the man with the $1 million Tiffany and Co. line of credit has managed to stay in the race long enough to be the latest non-Romney.

Newt has room for growing his support, too. More respondents picked him as their second choice than any other candidate, suggesting Newt’s rise could still draw supporters who see him as a viable candidate even if he’s not their favorite.

Other interesting bits of information pointed out by Talking Points Memo: Newt isn’t the most likable according to poll respondents (8 percent), but he is considered by far the most experienced and knowledgeable candidate (58 percent).

Gingrich’s longtime habit of comparing himself to large historical figures also seems to be paying off. He easily won the question about which candidate is the most like Ronald Reagan.

Other current candidates polled in the single digits: Rep. Bachmann received 8 percent, Gov. Perry and Rick Santorum are tied at 6 percent, and Jon Huntsman scored 2 percent. One interesting x factor that our Dave Weigel points out in his comparison of the two most recent Register polls: Since the latest was conducted before yesterday's big announcement, where does Herman Cain's 8 percent support go now that he's out of the race?