Newt, then age 57 and Callista, age 34, were married in a private ceremony in a hotel courtyard in Alexandria, Va. in August, 2000. Here's a fuller description, from a commentary by Doug Sanders of the Cato Institute published by the Copely News Service on August 21, 2000:

"Gingrich's misbehavior goes back years. Fidelity was apparently never his strong point. After marrying his high school math teacher, Jacqueline Battley, even he admits: ''In the 1970s, things happened.''

"As a congressional candidate, he conducted an affair in 1977, a year before enlisting Jackie to write a letter attacking his opponent for planning to leave her family in the district: ''When elected, Newt will keep his family together,'' declared one unintentionally hilarious campaign ad. Gingrich ended his 19-year marriage shortly after his victory."

"He famously visited Jackie in the hospital where she was recovering from surgery for uterine cancer to discuss details of the divorce. He later resisted paying alimony and child support for his two daughters, causing a church to take up a collection. For all of his talk of religious faith and the importance of God, Gingrich left his congregation over the pastor's criticism of his divorce."

"Soon thereafter, Gingrich married Marianne Ginther, whom he had previously met at a political fund-raiser. He called her ''the woman I love'' and ''my best friend and closest adviser'' in his first speech as House speaker, in January 1995... Yet, his relationship with Bisek, a House employee, apparently extended back to 1993 while he was talking of reforming the corrupt welfare state and promoting society's moral regeneration. Rumors of his relationship with Bisek, more than 20 years his junior, did not stop him from writing his political testament, in which he criticized sex outside of marriage, promoted traditional family life and opined that ''any male who doesn't support his children is a bum."

"In May 1999, however, Gingrich called Marianne at her mother's home. After wishing the 84-year-old matriarch happy birthday, he told Marianne that he wanted a divorce."

And from "Newt's a Beaut" by Mickey Porter published in the July 25, 2000 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal:

"Gingrich's most recent ex-wife says he ditched her eight months after finding out she had multiple sclerosis. Marianne Gingrich, 48, shopping a book proposal "both personal and political" about how women are treated in D.C., says the ex-speaker of the House told her on Mother's Day 1999 that he wanted a divorce, after learning she had a neurological condition that could lead to MS. In 1981, the former congressman told his other ex-wife, Jackie Battley, that he was dumping her, after she had been hospitalized with cancer. Newt, 57, will wed ex-congressional aide Callista Bisek, 34 -- with whom he had an affair while still married to Marianne -- on Aug. 18. "

Newt's admitted having an extra-marital affair during the Clinton impeachment proceedings.

As for Newt on substantive issues, if you've forgotten the terms of his 1994 Contract on America, signed by more than 300 Republicans, which called for ten bills, including a new crime bill, to be considered within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, you can revisit them here.

Terrorism bills proposed that year would have been more aptly been named "the McCarthyism, Korematsu and Star Chamber Renewal Act." All contained massive assaults on the Bill of Rights.

For those who don't want religion in their Government, Newt is not your guy.

Mr. Gingrich’s mission, as he sees it, is to save American civilization from the gravest crisis it has confronted since the Civil War. He has also set as a goal what he calls the restoration of God to a central place in American government and culture.

He has also said said court rulings over separation of church and state have hurt citizens' ability to express themselves and their faith. In that same speech, he advocated for limiting free speech rights in the name of the war on terror.

As for Newt on the war in Iraq, he was a big supporter of it when he served on the Defense Policy Board. He served from 2001 through 2006.

...''If we don't use this as the moment to replace Saddam after we replace the Taliban, we are setting the stage for disaster,'' Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House and a member of the group, said in an interview.

Here's Newt speaking about Iran in March, 2006:

Some Republicans, though, say a military attack may be required if only to set back Iran's nuclear program a few years. "Every year that we wait, the risk increases," said former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. "I would hope that the administration would decide to do something decisive. . . . We have the military power in the region if we need it. It's a question of whether we have the will."

Not that he cares, but I don't think he'll get the Hispanic vote -- he's already equated bi-lingual education as the "language of the ghetto" and mocked the idea of bi-lingual ballots.

If Newt gets in the race, the left and the media will have a field day with him. I just hope he doesn't start making Rudy look good by comparison. In my opinion, they're both abysmal choices for the Presidency.