Could the New York GOP be moving towards Newt Gingrich?

Most of the Republican political and donor establishment is lined up solidly behind Mitt Romney at this point, but one of their heroes–and the many many of them were waiting on before singing on with Mr. Romney–Rudy Giuliani, had some high praise for his chief rival, Newt Gingrich, on CNN last night.

“Newt has his negatives. We all know them,” Hizzoner said. “But one of his strengths he has is that he has a common touch. He is able to talk to people. He comes from a poor family. Understands poverty from that point of view. He doesn’t come from the American elite.”

That line about the “American elite” sounds almost as if it were written by the Gingrich campaign to attack Mr. Romney, the son of a governor and the overseer of a vast venture capital fortune. And Mr. Giuliani went on to explain that those “Reagan Democrats” he was counting on in his own 2008 run may be lining up behind Mr. Gingrich.

“I think that may be why Republicans may be moving toward Newt Gingrich because although the polls show that both of them do equally poorly or well against Obama, I think the instinct is that Gingrich might be the better candidate, he might be able to make a connection with what we call the Reagan Democrats.”

And Mr. Giuliani noted that the race is a replay of the 2008 campaign–although then, he was cast in the role of Mr. Romney, the early frontrunner.

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