Gingrich Backers Launch Campaign to Draft Him

Gingrich Backers Launch Campaign to Draft Him
By Aleena Shakeel
CNSNews.com Correspondent

January 30, 2007(CNSNews.com) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has said he will not announce his decision to compete in the 2008 presidential election until after Labor Day, but an online grassroots political campaign was launched nationally on Monday in an effort to convince him to run. David W. Kralik, a former Gingrich aide and founder of the DraftNewt.org campaign, said Monday that following a "quiet phase," organizers were now launching a campaign and modeling it after earlier campaigns to draft Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.

"Our primary goal is to get Newt to run. He really is the best conservative option for our party and for what we need," said Kralik, who worked in Gingrich's press office in 1998."I really believe he has all the right ideas and the proven experience. I really believe in his desire for solutions," Kralik told Cybercast News Service.

The "Draft Newt" effort will use its website as the main tool to collect contributions for the campaign, which will try to persuade Gingrich to "seek and win the Republican nomination."Contributions will be used for website hosting, banner advertising, organizing town hall meetings in different communities, and television advertisements." In 2004, both Senator Kerry and President Bush each spent over $300 million dollars," the website says. "This amounts to approximately $1 million a day to be raised. Our goal, in [the] effort to encourage Speaker Gingrich [to] decide to run for president, is to raise $7 million, equivalent to the first week's worth of fundraising. "

At a conference in Washington on Saturday, Gingrich promised conservatives that he would make a decision in September."I'm sure he's flattered by the effort. However, he has been clear that he is not even going to make a decision until after the summer," Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler told Cybercast News Service Monday.Kralik said in a statement that Gingrich's entry into the race "will set him aside as the conservative alternative to those [Republicans] currently running. His bold ideas and energy will raise the standards for all presidential aspirants and help the Republican Party work to regain America's trust."America offers great hope for those who believe rightly that the world is a very dangerous place," he added. "We have real challenges.
We have a wonderful country that can solve these challenges. Gingrich has the experience and solutions that our country needs right now."

Republicans who have already indicated their intention to vie for the 2008 nomination are former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo