Newt Gingrich Now Polling Ahead Of...Barack Obama?

If this holds true, then it can be construed as evidence the American people are willing to elect virtually anyone or anything that is not Barack Obama:

The latest Rasmussen national poll has Newt Gingrich up over Barack Obama in a hypothetical general election match-up, 45 percent to 43 percent. That difference in within the 3-point margin of error, in a survey of 1,000 likely voters, but it shows a significant swing in support for Gingrich among voters. According to a Rasmussen poll released last week, Gingrich had been trailing Obama by six points.

The primaries start in a little over a month. And like hockey, it's not always the best team that storms through the playoffs, it's the team that's the hottest when the tournament begins.

And with Florida's primary slated for January 31st - a mere two months out - well, holy sh*t:

Newt Gingrich is the current favorite in Florida’s Jan. 31 Republican presidential primary, picking up supporters who fled Herman Cain to claim 41 percent in a poll conducted Tuesday night for the Florida Times-Union.

Gingrich has as much support as the next four candidates combined in the telephone survey of 513 registered voters who say they’re likely to cast ballots in the primary. The poll, conducted by InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research, has a margin of error of 4 percent....

Let it be stated that I am not a fan of Newt Gingrich (can I even back away from a blog post entitled  Newt Gingrich: A Poll-Chasing, Flip-Flopping Philanderer?).  And while polls seem to show he may actually be able to beat Obama, the media has yet to take a real hard swing at him.  Expect that to begin...in about 15 minutes, once the aforementioned poll numbers sink in at the newsrooms.

Just got an early proof of the front page of tomorrow's New York Times...

Speaking strictly for myself - I think that Newt's know-it-all, abrasive, and occasionally dismissive personality will grate on the American people, and even should he win the presidency (long-shot), would be hard-pressed to win a second term. And at this point, the nations desperately need a Reagan - a leader for eight years who can cement a conservative policy legacy - and not just a brief respite from the liberal carnage.

Why the Newt surge?  Maybe - like Chris Christie, another popular politician - he's a guy who is not afraid to tell it like it is:  The president is a socialist, the media are his PR service,  and the government is the source of - not the solution to - many of America's problems.

Maybe Mitt Romney can learn something from Newt Gingrich.  A little abrasiveness - turned on the right targets - can be a very, very good thing...