We got mixed signals from a turbulent political week. Barack Obama seems to be enjoying an uptick in polls, moving toward 50 percent approval. But his weakness was apparent in his State of the Union address: issues. 

As one of the most polarizing figures in modern American politics, Newt Gingrich has racked up a huge inventory of pungent criticism of both his ideas and his character — much of it from his fellow conservatives. But before becoming prime minister, Winston Churchill was often dismissed in similar terms.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind about Newt Gingrich, as he leads in polls for the Republican presidential nomination nationally and in Iowa and South Carolina and may be threatening Mitt Romney's lead in New Hampshire. One is that he is an autodidact. A second is that he has incredible perseverance.

"We're not going to lose in New Hampshire." So says Mitt Romney's state coordinator Jason McBride. Whether that confidence is well founded may determine the fate of the candidate who has been the on-and-off front-runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

The core of Newt Gingrich's strategy has been to plant a question in the minds of Republican voters. The question he wants them to ask is, "Whom would you most like to see debate Barack Obama?"

America's version of capitalism has been much more dynamic than Europe's. Why don't Obama and Romney debate that?

Mitt Romney dispelled any doubts tonight whether he wants to be president badly enough to fight for it.

In his new book, To Save America (Regnery Publishing, 2010), former Speaker of the House and AEI senior fellow, Newt Gingrich argues that the United States is not at a crossroad--rather, it is on the edge of a dangerous precipice.