He had pushed the preposterous impeachment and the GOP lost a few seats. They sacked him, then Delay led the charge and they impeached anyway. Soon after it was learned that all the while Newt was sermonizing how immoral Bill Clinton was, he was having an extramarital affair of his own. Hypocrite. Later he served his wife divorce papers at the hospital while she was dying of cancer.

Newt has the marginal benefit of not being tainted by direct association with the hugely unpopular Bush, or the republican spending spree over the last 8 years, the economic crash, the disasterous environmental and energy policies, the reckless and poorly managed wars, and the other disasters GOP leadership have brought on America and the world.

But, he's still a conservative republican and one of the "our way or the highway" crowd in the GOP. Newt sees an opportunity to fill the vacuum and take the GOP back to the good old days of the Contract on America. He's a reasonably smart guy but he's also a pretty slimy character.