When Gingrich got his surge, he needed to do three things as a predicate for everything else: avoid grandiosity (e.g., “I’m going to be the nominee,” comparing the Virginia ballot fiasco to Pearl Harbor); don’t seem erratic (e.g., going back and forth on whether your campaign is going to be positive or negative), and don’t get rattled (e.g., letting Romney bait you into hitting him on “bankrupting” companies, becoming obsessed with the ad campaign against you). Obviously, Gingrich is 0-3. It can’t be easy holding up under such a barrage and some of the charges in the ads haven’t been fair, but basically the ads have gotten out the word on Newt. In the Des Moines Register poll, he’s rated “the least consistent” of the candidates, ahead of even Romney.