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The day's Campaign 2008 story did not concern the campaign proper--but a straw in the wind that Newt Gingrich is gearing up to run for the Republican nomination. ABC's Jake Tapper (subscription required) rehashed past hypocrisy: "As House Speaker, Gingrich denigrated what he called the 'moral decay of the left' and celebrated his second wife--while cheating on her." The secret love affair with a Congressional aide coincided with Gingrich's leadership in the campaign to have Bill Clinton impeached for lying about his sexual liaison with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The aide eventually became Gingrich's third wife.
What makes these salacious details newsworthy? Oddly, no one dug up this gossip. Gingrich voluntarily appeared on the conservative talkradio show Focus on the Family to dish dirt against himself, confessing his past infidelity to born-again political activist James Dobson. "As long as two years ago Gingrich was plotting his return but, then, refused to talk about his personal life," NBC's Andrea Mitchell recalled. So why the change? Trying to "offload some baggage," CBS' Jim Axelrod called it.
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