Gingrich: Republicans must stop and think before they chase a fix

By Newt Gingrich | Commentary, Gingrich 360

I have been through several tsunami elections.

The first job for the losing side is to stop and think. The instinct will be to run around and expend energy just to be doing something, but that is not the right strategy. Something big went wrong. Republicans must figure out what it was and how to fix it.

I am outlining this lesson from personal experience.

When I first ran in 1974, there was a tsunami building against the Republicans over the Watergate scandal (which forced President Richard Nixon to resign), the bad economy, and bitterness over the Vietnam War. I decided that I had to run with the tsunami and not against it. My campaign emphasized the need to reform Washington and the degree to which the Democratic incumbent was the problem and I was the solution (he was the senior member of the delegation and high up on the Appropriations Committee). Despite the general Republican disaster (losing 48 House seats and five Senate seats), I got 48.5% of the vote as a reformer.

Then in 1976, I faced my own personal blue tsunami because Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia won the Democratic nomination and was overwhelmingly popular in the state. I ran the best campaign of my career and dropped 0.2% end up at 48.3%. Finally, I won in 1978.

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