In a victory speech following his win in the South Carolina primary, Newt Gingrich called President Obama a "Saul Alinsky radical."
But ironically enough Gingrich can credit one of Alinsky's core precepts for his victory.
"The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression," Alinsky wrote.
That's exactly what Gingrich did when he took on the national media for asking him about ex-wife's accusations of infidelity. Instead of responding to the charge, he tapped into the resentment a lot of small-town conservatives feel towards the Washington-New York-Hollywood elite who mock their values.
I'll bet Gingrich rides that horse all the way to the GOP convention.
He told CBS's Bob Schieffer that Romney wasn't connecting with voters because the governor-turned-private-equity-king didn't appear "authentic." That's true. An essential element of authenticity is not only being true to who you are, but sending a clear signal that "you're one of us."
For better or worse, as far as thousands -- maybe millions -- of Americans are concerned, with all his faults and weaknesses, and despite his PhD and swelling bank account, Gingrich is one of them.
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