Gingrich Insurgency Tests Party’s Old Guard
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By RICHARD W. STEVENSON, January 26, 2012, New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Old Guard of the Republican Party has suddenly surfaced with some acid criticism of Newt Gingrich and warnings that he would be crushed in November, seeking to impose some discipline on an electorate that seems to be flirting seriously with nominating Mr. Gingrich for president.
Republicans have traditionally tended to be hierarchical, choosing their nominees in an orderly and almost predictable fashion that gives deference to the preferences of elected officials and favored experience, brand names and electability. But in an era when party leaders are ceding power to grass-roots conservatives who are defined by populism and often anger at institutions, it is not clear that there is a meaningful Republican establishment any longer – or if there is, that its efforts to exert influence would be anything but counterproductive to its cause.
Beyond the fates of Mr. Gingrich and his chief rival for the nomination, Mitt Romney, what is unfolding among Republicans is a compelling test of just how much politics has been changed by the forces that gave rise to the Tea Party movement, Occupy Wall Street and efforts to create a viable third-party option. READ...
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