hill to climb for a former speaker of the house with a messy record and marriage. joe johns, cnn, washington. >> joining me in washington, democratic strategist maria kor dona and in atlanta, eric ericsson. eric, the conservative base is your business. how big an issue is this? you start in iowa, then new hampshire, then south carolina. by then we have a sense of who's serious or not. iowa, south carolina, huge conservative states. is this a problem? >> i think it is a problem. when i got back from my honeymoon, my wife threw my autographed book of newt gingrich out and said it was her or the book. she sas bitter memories toward him and is typical of a lot of women in the south. but he also has a different angle, as well. he converted from being a southern baptist to a catholic. when you go to iowa or to south