GREENVILLE, S.C. -- If former House Speaker Newt Gingrich does run for president, former South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson will likely be his chief strategist in the state.
"If he runs, I'll be with him," Dawson told Hotline On Call. "I'm trying to encourage him to."
"If he runs, I'll be with him," Dawson told Hotline On Call. "I'm trying to encourage him to."
Gingrich also echoed the one-time candidate for RNC chair's praises, saying there was "no question" he would be his top adviser in the crucial early state.
"I think, frankly, having Katon Dawson's help is an enormous asset," Gingrich said of his South Carolina chances.
Dawson wasn't able to support a candidate during the 2008 campaign, when he was head of the state Republican party, but in 2000 backed George W. Bush over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in their contentious face-off. And more than 10 years later, he's relishing his ability to make a pick, calling Gingrich the best Republican candidate to go toe-to-toe with PresidentObama intellectually.
"I think he fits pretty well with South Carolina ideologically," said Dawson. "Me and a team are going to work for someone we think can really change America." Gingrich said he'll make a definitive announcement on whether he's forming an exploratory committee within the next four to five weeks, but that he's encouraged by the feedback he's received at his "Newt Explore" site he launched earlier this month and the reception he's continuing to get across the country. Another hint he's running? At the end of his speech this afternoon to the Greenville County Republican Women's Club, he was presented a tie with the state's famous Palmetto tree emblem. "You can expect to see me back wearing this a number of times," Gingrich joked.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/blogs/hotlineoncall/2011/03/dawson-will-be-gingrich-s-top-s-c-adviser-if-he-runs-24
"I think, frankly, having Katon Dawson's help is an enormous asset," Gingrich said of his South Carolina chances.
Dawson wasn't able to support a candidate during the 2008 campaign, when he was head of the state Republican party, but in 2000 backed George W. Bush over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in their contentious face-off. And more than 10 years later, he's relishing his ability to make a pick, calling Gingrich the best Republican candidate to go toe-to-toe with PresidentObama intellectually.
"I think he fits pretty well with South Carolina ideologically," said Dawson. "Me and a team are going to work for someone we think can really change America." Gingrich said he'll make a definitive announcement on whether he's forming an exploratory committee within the next four to five weeks, but that he's encouraged by the feedback he's received at his "Newt Explore" site he launched earlier this month and the reception he's continuing to get across the country. Another hint he's running? At the end of his speech this afternoon to the Greenville County Republican Women's Club, he was presented a tie with the state's famous Palmetto tree emblem. "You can expect to see me back wearing this a number of times," Gingrich joked.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/blogs/hotlineoncall/2011/03/dawson-will-be-gingrich-s-top-s-c-adviser-if-he-runs-24