Newt Gingrich, as I noted after he won South Carolina, is an incredibly flawed figure to claim the “conservative outsider” title. But he has something going for him. Despite the fact that he has had many deviations from conservatism, from backing a federal individual mandate to being paid by drug companies as he pushed the Medicare prescription drug law, many conservatives remember him as the guy who was sticking it to President Clinton in the 1990s.

No doubt, as Stephen Slivinski has documented, even then Gingrich was an obstacle for limited government conservatives. But still, what remains for many people is the memory of Gingrich promoting the “Contract with America,” leading the first GOP takeover of Congress in 40 years and helping to pass welfare reform and balanced budgets.