Gingrich Comes to Iowa Touting 21st Century Contract To Save America

Gingrich touts new contract as way to save country
By Lynn Campbell

IowaPolitics.com

DES MOINES — A business crowd of about 400 was receptive Thursday to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich's new 21st Century Contract with America, although one person questioned why Gingrich isn't doing better in the polls despite his specific ideas for the country.

"I'm glad you asked now instead of a month ago, because the polls have gotten better," Gingrich said, drawing a chuckle throughout the auditorium of workers on their lunch break. The former Georgia congressman is seeking the Republican Party's nomination for president in the 2012 contest.

Gingrich then went on to explain that he wasted four months of his campaign by bringing in smart people who wanted to do the same old thing. He said he wanted to run a positive, idea-oriented campaign, while they wanted to run attack ads.

"I made a big mistake," he said. "I can't compete with (Rick) Perry and (Mitt) Romney on money. But what I can do is run a very social media-oriented campaign with a lot of very specific solutions, and I can attract an enormous number of volunteers, and I can network them together. And in the process, we can build an entire new way of thinking about governing America."

Gingrich chose the Principal Financial Group's "Corporate One" building in downtown as the place to unveil his new 26-page, 21st Century Contract with America. The global financial company provides retirement solutions, insurance, wellness programs, and investment and banking products.

Appearing in his history professor mode, Gingrich outlined a contract that calls for a repeal of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which he said is unconstitutional because of the "individual mandate" that requires everyone who can afford health insurance coverage to have it.

"Instead of an individual mandate penalty for not buying government-approved health insurance, the federal tax code should be reformed to provide every American the choice of a generous tax credit or the ability to deduct the value of their health insurance up to a certain amount," the contract states.

The call comes despite Gingrich previously being a vocal champion for required health insurance coverage, even writing in a June 2007 editorial that "personal responsibility extends to the purchase of health insurance."

Gingrich's new contract also calls for an optional flat tax.

"All tax filers would be given the option to pay their income taxes subject to current income tax provisions or to pay under a lower single rate of taxation with limited deductions," Gingrich writes. "A revenue neutral flat tax reform would save hundreds of billions of dollars in compliance costs each year and would eliminate the need for taxes on savings, dividends, and capital gains."

In addition, Gingrich said his plan will save Medicare and Social Security by providing more choices. Seniors could remain on the existing Medicare program, or transition to a more personalized system in the private sector with greater options. And youth would have the option of putting a portion of their Social Security contributions into personal savings accounts.

"Why not allow people who are successful to have a choice?" Gingrich asked the crowd. "You know, we don't compel people to go to Walmart. … Callista (his wife) and I take her mother occasionally to Walmart in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The idea of walking through and saying to her, 'There are 258,000 items in Walmart. Maybe you don't want to go to all the aisles.' She'd think I was crazy. The right to choose is different than being forced."

Democrats said Gingrich may be touting his innovative ideas, but his plan to dismantle Medicare is nothing new. They said every Republican presidential candidate supports plans that would end Medicare as we know it, slash Social Security and protect tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.

"First there was the Ryan plan, then there was 'Cut, Cap and Balance,' and now we have Newt Gingrich's new Contract with America," said Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky. "Though there may be some feuding among the GOP field, it seems there is one thing they can all agree on - ending Medicare as we know it is job No. 1."

Principal employee Lisa Ryan, 48, of Adel said she liked Gingrich's plan.

"I think it's great. I think it gives everybody something that they can follow and kind of a check and balance to see if he's doing what he says he's going to do," said Ryan, who agreed with Gingrich that the country is in trouble. "He's got it documented and we can all look at it, and we can fall back on it and ask him if he's done his job."

However, Ryan said she's leaning towards supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, instead, "because he has not been a career politician. He's been in the real world. By that, I think he knows what we're going through."

Thursday's event kicked off a candidate speaking series hosted by Principal, one of Des Moines' largest employers. Ryan said that Romney also came to speak at Principal when he ran for president in 2008.

Gingrich arguably is best known for co-authoring the 1994 Contract with America before the first mid-term election of President Bill Clinton's administration, which ushered in a Republican takeover of Congress and his own rise to speaker of the U.S. House. Tuesday was the 17th anniversary of the unveiling of that original contract, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

If Gingrich is successful in his bid for the 2012 Republican nomination for president, the new contract could recapture some of the glory that he experienced with the first contract 17 years ago. He portrayed it as an attempt to "save our country."

"This is a serious management document," he told the crowd. "This will evolve. This is not the final document. There are two big differences between this contract and 1994. The first is, the scale of change I am suggesting is so enormous, that I couldn't possibly as a single leader show you everything I'm going to do. So this is the beginning of a conversation."

Gingrich's presidential campaign has survived despite a rocky start in May, when he called U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program "right-wing social engineering" and "radical change."

Then in June, Gingrich went on a cruise to the Greek Isles and at least 16 of his top campaign aides quit, including all six of his Iowa campaign staffers. Several of them cited dissatisfaction over the candidate's lack of willingness to invest time in his campaign.

A new poll of 600 likely Iowa Republican caucus goers shows Gingrich in fifth place among those vying for the Republican nomination for president. He garnered 8 percent in the latest poll, which is static from July and down from 12 percent in April.

The poll by the American Research Group, a national opinion polling and marketing research company based in New Hampshire, was taken Sept. 22-27 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Gingrich trailed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul.

See a video of Gingrich promoting choice as part of his new Contract with America:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxqjxUCs57A

See a slide show of photos of Gingrich unveiling the Contract with America:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowapolitics/sets/72157627658538081/show/

See the 21st Century Contract with America:
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/253688/gingrich-contract-with-america_digest.pdf

Read a summary of the new contract:
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/253690/21stcenturycontract.pdf

See the American Research Group poll:
http://americanresearchgroup.com/pres2012/primary/rep/ia/