His presence weighed heavily on the two most pressing issues of the election: gas prices and the Wall Street bailout. On the latter, his sideline activity greatly complicated things for McCain.

“It’s hard to know what he was trying to accomplish with that,” says Feehery. “The first bailout’s failing killed John McCain. I’m not sure that’s why [Gingrich] did it or not. I’m not sure what his overall strategy was.”

Feehery adds: “Newt abhors a vacuum. … If the party had its own ideas, it wouldn’t need Newt Gingrich.”

Gingrich himself acknowledges the inverse relationship between his party’s fortunes and his post-congressional prominence.

“The biggest thing is the vacuum,” he says.