Gingrich Campaign Press Release - Gingrich Says Tea Party Support Key to Achieving Real Change

Newt believes that the 2012 election is not just about defeating Obama, but about permanently ending the age of big government. To do that, Republicans must work with the Tea Party not just to win a big election, but in an ongoing manner to move power out of Washington and help implement the 10th Amendment around the country.

The Associated Press reports on Newt's trip to Iowa yesterday, where he expanded on that theme:

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said in Iowa Monday that fellow Republicans will have failed next year if they take back the White House without winning over tea party activists around the country.

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Gingrich said whoever the Republican presidential nominee is will not be able to turn back accomplishments of the Democratic Obama administration without winning big congressional majorities.

And that would require a lasting alliance between the GOP and tea party supporters, he said.

"The challenge for the Republican leadership is to bring the tea parties and the Republican Party together for the purpose of not just defeating Obama," Gingrich said. "If all we do is defeat Obama and then our next president presides over Obama's disasters, then we haven't changed things. We will have just slowed the rate of decay."

Republicans, who control the U.S. House but not the Senate, need to gain 30 to 40 House seats and 12 Senate seats to control the agenda, including an effort to repeal the health care law enacted by Obama last year, Gingrich said.

Read the full article here.