Gingrich Up in Polls, But Congress Not Endorsing

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is faring well among the voting public, rising to the top in several recent polls. But the former House Speaker isn’t doing so well among his former colleagues. He hasn’t drawn any endorsements from a congressman since his rocket rise in the polls, The Hill reports.

Front-runner Mitt Romney has amassed 44 endorsements from members of Congress, compared to six for Gingrich.

He carries some baggage from his House leadership days. His leadership style drew a coup against Gingrich from fellow Republicans. And that helped lead to his resignation from Congress in 1998.

“His tenure as speaker was turbulent, to put it mildly,” Jack Pitney, a professor at Claremont McKenna College who came to know Gingrich in the 1980s, told The Hill. “You're not going to get a huge number of endorsements from people who actually served under him. Their memories are very mixed.”

Some congressmen have criticized Gingrich harshly during his run. “He’s a guy of 1,000 ideas, and the attention span of a one-year-old,” Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., told The Hill in April. “His discipline and his attention to any individual thing is not his strong suit.”

Gingrich probably shouldn’t look to current House Speaker John Boehner for support. Boehner lost his position as conference chairman after taking part in the coup against Gingrich.