Christ, he looks like a corpse.

And fuck Newt.

I guess shitty people tend to pick alike.

He is an old politician from congress (90s).  He was the former speaker of the house in the house of representatives (notice I didn't capitalize any of those letters because they don't even deserve a capital letter).  He led the resurgence of the neo cons with their "new deal" or whatever the hell they called it.  Basically, he is an old fart that doesn't stand a chance.  He might have a few decent ideas but I believe most independents wouldn't vote for him.  The only "republican" I would vote for myself would be Ron Paul.

My opinion is 'Somewhere in the middle'.

He was a pretty darn good speaker of the house (IMO) under Bill Clinton during the late 90s, which saw the US debt shrink for the first time in decades. Closest guy I could compare him to in other ways would be Silvio Burlusconi - especially the private life. Has a lot of skeletons in his closet.

Personally, I prefer him over Romney, but both aren't great great, really.

No. Ron Paul or Gary Johnson.

newt? really? 0_o

How is Ron Paul looking right now?  I haven't paid any attention to any of the debates or primaries since I am not republican.  However, since Ron Paul is more libertarian than anything I have a foundness for him.  I hope he has a chance.  I was listening to Rush yesterday (not sure why I just wanted him to piss me off again I suppose) and he takes a decent amount of cheap shots at Ron Paul pretty much labeling him as wacko (or at least that is what he led me to believe).  Pretty much I need to never turn on fox talk radio ever again (unless Clark Howard is on).

he balanced our bugdet like 4+ straight times (cant remeber the exact number)

but he has a lot of personal baggage (cheated on wives) that he has since repented for and asked for forgiveness.

he has made some bad choices in sitting next to Nancy Pelosi supporting cap and trade, attacking Pual Ryan's common sense plan to balance the budget. but he has redemed himself, and has said those were bad decisions and he shouldnt have down that.

he is also like a walking talking encyclopedia, he is a great historian too. very quick thinker, and great debater.

here he is in the recent debate he destroyed every one participated in.

yeah if you like the idea of all  high priority terrorists, especially Osama bin laden being still alive. and if you like the idea of a Nuclear Iran.

if we could have Ron Paul without his foreign policy, he'd be great. 

his last debate really showed how clueless he was when it came to foreign policy.

i would much prefer, a Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, colonel allen west, or Scott Walker.

You mean............Gary Johnson?

As for the others you mentioned, none of them are going to reduce the size of government like Paul or Johnson would.