base and had to run so far to the right as speaker. i think it drove negatives for independent voters and some of the more main stream voters. >> let me just speak to this point, just to follow. in the 1996 cycle, we calculated that democrats and their allies, unions and what have you, spent somewhere in the area of $60 million running ads against newt gingrich, who was, after all, only running to be re-elected to his house seat. and what they did successfully was they created -- it was like the golden -- the golden arches. when you're driving down the highway and you see it, you know everything you need to know about the restaurant behind that sign. and to cornell's point, the democrats were so successful, that all they had to say was, newt likes this, and 54% of the population said if newt likes it, i don't. that has had time to dissipate over the years, but i think