Future of the GOP

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stopped in Newport Beach on Wednesday to talk briefly about Sacramento’s ongoing budget crisis and the future of the Republican Party.

“Something has to be done to reclaim this state — Sacramento is owned by interest groups,” Gingrich said, lamenting California’s current political landscape during an informal talk with a few reporters and local dignitaries at the Island Hotel in Newport Center.

Gingrich said he hadn’t studied any of California’s six ballot measures in the May 19 special election geared at keeping the state solvent. The former speaker could only shake his head at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s predicament.

“I think the problem is dramatically bigger than he thought it would be,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich was in town to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the conservative group the New Majority.

The group was founded in Newport Beach in 1999 and has grown to become the largest Republican political action committee in the state with an annual budget of more than $3.5 million.

Known for his “Contract with America” that led the Republicans to recapture a majority in the House of Representatives in 1994, Gingrich has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent months as the Republican party has searched for a new voice and innovative ideas after 2008’s disappointing elections.

Rumors have circulated in Washington, D.C., that the former Georgia congressman has hopes of a presidential bid in 2012.

Comparing President Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter, who began his presidency with a high approval rating, which had plummeted by the time he left office four years later, Gingrich was optimistic about a Republican resurgence.

“I don’t think it will take long at all for Republicans to be popular again,” he said.