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Christianity Today interviews a Newt Gingrich high on Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle; not so much Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Q: Who do you see as the emerging leaders in the Republican Party: Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin?
A: Bobby Jindal is certainly brilliant and has a great future. Tim Pawlenty has a great future. There are a lot of people who are terrific. The fact is, I think that you can look at [governer of South Carolina] Mark Sanford, Paul Ryan in the House, [California congressman] Kevin McCarthy, or Eric Cantor [in the House]. I just think we're likely to have a dramatic resurgence. We have two great candidates in Ohio, John Kasich for governor and Rob Portman for the Senate, who are likely to be very, very effective.
Q: Do you see any women emerging in the GOP leadership?
A: I would start, frankly, with Linda Lingle in Hawaii, who was a terrific governor who got re-elected in very difficult circumstances. You have Kay Bailey Hutchinson running for the governorship of Texas. If she wins that, she will automatically be a national figure because she'll be the governor of the second largest state.
Q:You didn't mention Sarah Palin.
A: Sarah Palin has an obvious role if she wants it. The question for her has to be, are she and her family willing to go through another couple of years of the kind of media coverage that they currently get? Is she willing to do the kind of development of national issues and development of a national profile that would be required? She is a celebrity in her own right. She is probably the most successful figure in the party right now, and she's a formidable figure. I think to go from there to becoming a national leader would take a significant amount of work.
(ea) Now there's a topic sentence.
[Hat tip: Tommy Christopher]
