Newt Gingrich may be ahead in the polls, but he’s never going to be the Republican nominee, for two reasons: 1) everyone knows that Mitt Romney is next in the GOP’s good ol’ boy line of succession (and it will become crystal clear when he gets the endorsement of John McCain, the GOP’s last anointed candidate), and 2) Newt Gingrich himself: The Coming GOP Gingrich Freakout.

The most important thing to remember about Newt Gingrich is that his colleagues in the House of Representatives effectively fired him as their leader even before the impeachment crisis, shifting power instead into the more competent hands of Tom DeLay. It was Tom DeLay who ran the caucus while Newt Gingrich was traveling the country giving speeches about Total Quality Management and the Struggle for Western Civilization.

Gingrich was not pushed aside by his caucus for any of the offenses listed above. He was pushed aside because he plunged the caucus into chaos, because he lost fights that he himself had chosen, because he could not control his mouth, because he wanted to be a star more than he wanted to get things done. There’s a reason Gingrich is fascinated by management gurus: he needs the help.