By Bill Press

Tribune Media Services

Political junkies like me have never seen anything like it: Running 20 points behind, just a week before the South Carolina primary, Newt Gingrich catapulted to the top of the pile and ended up defeating Mitt Romney by 12 points. It’s almost enough to make a believer out of you.

Indeed, his 32-point tour-de-force in just seven days is stunning, given that Gingrich, whose entire campaign staff walked out on him last summer, ran an embarrassing fourth in Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s all the more remarkable when you realize that his entire campaign is based on three big lies: he’s a Washington outsider; he’s not a lobbyist; and he’s a small-government conservative. Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Only if you define “outsider” as someone born outside of Washington could Gingrich be considered not part of the Washington establishment. He was elected to Congress in 1979, and hasn’t left Washington since. He served in Congress for 20 years, four of them as speaker of the House, just two heartbeats away from the presidency. Since resigning in disgrace from Congress, he’s operated inside the Beltway while serving on several boards and commissions, advising Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, founding and leading several for-profit consulting companies, and appearing as a paid commentator on Fox News. He and his third wife Callista live in McLean, Va., one of Washington’s most elite, and most expensive, suburbs.