Ian M. MacIsaac: Oh, how the mighty have fallen: The Decline and fall of Newt Gingrich, former conservative

Editor’s note: This is the first article in a three-part series surveying current and potential Republican presidential candidates. The next piece will concern Tim Pawlenty.

  Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour, and (most likely) Sarah Palin are all out of the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. For a field that has looked weak all along, having so many absolutely huge Republican Party names AWOL from the stage even before June is seriously bad news. It has left the party with three major possible candidates: Mitt Romney, who most Americans rejected last time; Tim Pawlenty, who most Americans have never even heard of; and Newt Gingrich, who most Americans are simply tired of hearing of.

  Newt has long flirted with a presidential candidacy but this time he's finally thrown his hat into the ring. Gingrich, a former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999, has long prided himself on being both a steadfast conservative as well as an "ideas man."