After strong debate performances in the week prior to the South Carolina primary, he managed to revive his campaign by winning all of that southern state's delegates on January 21.

Questioning Gingrich on the issue of entitlements, Gregory asked: "The Medicare trust fund, in stories that have come out over the weekend, is now going to be depleted by 2024, five years earlier than predicted.

Do you think that Republicans ought to buck the public opposition and really move forward to completely change Medicare, turn it into a voucher program where you give seniors some premium support and—so that they can go out and buy private insurance?"

"[20] Perceived to be criticism of the Republican Party's plan to reform Medicare for the 2012 United States federal budget, the comments were met with backlash from the GOP and various political pundits.

[21][22] Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska and the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, defended the former Speaker of the House on the Fox News Channel show Hannity, stating Gingrich was a victim of gotcha journalism and that his apology was forced by the "lamestream media".

[30] In August 2011, Gingrich called for the adoption of the Six Sigma business management model by the United States government, arguing that as much as half a trillion a year in waste could potentially be eliminated.

[35] Gingrich approached his political campaign based on a model from Walmart and McDonald's, saying that instead of carving a niche for himself from among his fellow Republican contenders, he would court nontraditional interest groups for the GOP, including Asian Americans and Latinos.

Pollster Kellyanne Conway, who worked for Gingrich's American Solutions, reviewed his debate performances and said his focus and ability to stay on-point during the discussions helped him enormously, as compared to past speeches where he would entertain many different topics.

[46] Gingrich personally was in-favor of having unmoderated debates and advocated for a series of Lincoln-Douglas style forums, which he believed would produce a better "adult Conversation with the American people."

Gingrich said he was approached by Freddie and told, "we are now making loans to people that have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that's what the government wants us to do," to which he replied, "This is insane.

[64] In late November, Gingrich received the endorsement of the New Hampshire newspaper the Manchester Union Leader, which praised his "innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership".

[65] On December 1, Gingrich said confidently he would be the nominee, noting that recent polling had him surging in the early states of Iowa, South Carolina, and Florida, as well as closing on Mitt Romney in New Hampshire.

[70] As Herman Cain's campaign stumbled in November, Gingrich began polling at the top of the Republican field and received solid leads in early states, establishing himself as a frontrunner with serious opposition coming only from Mitt Romney.

Romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain, then I would be glad to listen to him and I'll bet you $10 dollars – not $10,000 – that he won't take the offer.

[76] At this point Patrick Millsaps was hired as the deputy general counsel to assist with these ballot access issues and to bring some much needed structure to the struggling campaign.

[78][79][80] The Palestinian Authority strongly disagreed with Gingrich's statements, which were common arguments among Zionist Jews in the early decades of Israel's existence, but have since been abandoned by mainstream Israelis.

[84] An advisor to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) suggested that Gingrich's information on the subject was obtained from "one-sided Israeli propaganda" published in the Palestinian Media Watch.

[87] Gingrich's rise to front-runner status provoked renewed skepticism from the party establishment and heavy scrutiny from conservative pundits, who questioned his character and his record.

David Brooks argued that Gingrich is subject to "narcissism, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and intemperance" while George Will called him a "rental politician" who "embodies almost everything disagreeable about modern Washington."

[91] Gingrich received such criticisms from Peter T. King and Nikki Haley, and from pundits Glenn Beck, George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Brit Hume, and Jonah Goldberg.

"[95] On January 3, Gingrich won 13 percent of the vote in the Iowa Republican caucuses, finishing fourth behind Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul.

[98] The San Francisco Chronicle noted that a PAC supporting Romney launched "more than $1.2 million of negative ads in Iowa, mostly aimed at Gingrich", the content of which included "at least one false statement and several misleading ones".

[103] Ahead of the South Carolina primary, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson donated $5 million to "Winning Our Future", the Super PAC that supports Gingrich.

[104][105] The super PAC allocated $3.4 million for TV advertising in South Carolina, including the trailer for a 27-minute documentary titled "When Mitt Romney Came to Town" that purported to tell the tale of a "predatory corporate raider".

"[115][116] Gingrich's victory in South Carolina, but ultimate inability to grab the nomination broke the state's long standing traditional status as being a primary bellwether for Republicans.

"[124] As Gingrich excoriated "elites in Washington and New York",[125] Canadian columnist Andrew Steele noted that the former House Speaker was running a campaign of "classic populism".

[133] Rich Lowry of the National Review agreed, noting that at one point "Gingrich tried to wheel on [debate moderator] Wolf Blitzer and [this time] it didn't work.

Gingrich managed to win most of North Florida, but the more populous central and southern counties such as Pinellas, Orange, Broward and Miami-Dade turned out largely in Romney's favor.

[139] Also on January 31, the Gingrich campaign acknowledged responsibility for a Florida robocall that accused Romney of "forcing Holocaust survivors to eat non-kosher food" while he was Governor of Massachusetts.

[162] Gingrich focused his campaign on Southern Super Tuesday states such as Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee as Rick Santorum continued to make gains in the polls of the latter two.