•  Campaign Videos (March 2012) « Newt 2012
  

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Notes: A very nice biographical film which might have been more helpful if the campaign had been able to get it out about three months earlier.  The campaign press release:

16 Minute Film Traces Newt Gingrich’s Path from Small Town America to Presidential Candidate

Atlanta, GA – Newt 2012 released today a 16 minute film entitled “Newt Gingrich: Rebuilding the America We Love” that tells the story of Gingrich’s small town beginnings all the way to his campaign for the 2012 presidential nomination.

Watch the film here: http://www.newt.org/meet-newt/

The film begins by Gingrich recalling his early childhood of living above the gas station on the square in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, visiting his aunt and uncle on their farm, and renting a cabin in the mountains every summer with his family.

An avid animal lover, Gingrich’s first act of civic involvement was visiting the Harrisburg City Hall as a 10-year child asking the city to open a zoo.  Days later he testified before the City Council making the same request, an appearance which was reported by The Harrisburg Patriot-News.

At an early age Gingrich was also passionate about learning history, fueled in part by growing up near the Pennsylvania State Capitol, Independence Hall, and Gettsyburg.

As the son of a career soldier, Gingrich lived all over the world.  Two specific locations Gingrich recalls in the film:  Fort Riley, Georgia, where he used to climb around on tanks, and Orleans, France, which set the course of his future career in politics. While living in Orleans, France Gingrich visited the Battlefield of Verdun, the largest battlefield of WWI where 600,000 men died.

“You just had this sense that this stuff is all real.  That countries can die. That bad leadership can be disastrous,” Gingrich says in the film, remembering his visit to the battlefield.  “And so I spent the summer thinking and praying about it, and I decided in August of ’58 that I would spend my life on three things:  What do we need to do to survive as a free country, how would you explain it to the American people so they would give you permission, and how would you actually implement it if they gave you permission.”

And so his political career was born.  The architect of the 1994 Republican Revolution, Gingrich talks about this signature political accomplishment that stunned the political establishment and created the first Republican Majority in 40 years.

As a father and grandfather, Gingrich also shares the importance of his family and the joy it has been to campaign side-by-side with his daughters Jackie and Kathy, their husbands Jimmie and Paul, and his grandkids Maggie and Robbie.  Newt says that he couldn’t have run for president without the support of his wife Callista, who wakes up every morning with the determination to be happy.

On why he’s running for president in 2012, Gingrich concludes the film by saying the following:

“I’m running for president because I think we are in enormous danger of losing America as a nation that’s exceptional. I think we’re in enormous danger of losing our economic vitality, losing our national security, and ultimately losing our freedom. And I think we need a leader who understands what has made America great and who is prepared to unleash the American people to go back to rebuilding the country that we love.”

Copyright © 2012 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.