Gingrich aides: Go negative, Newt!

Alarmed by Newt Gingrich’s decline in the polls in the face of a fusillade of negative advertisements, some senior aides and grass-roots supporters have suggested that he reverse course and fight fire with fire, fearing for the future of his candidacy if he does not…

“How long can you take the beating before hitting back?” said Josh Byrnes, a state representative and the chairman of Mr. Gingrich’s campaign for Mitchell County, who added that he was “blown away” by how much damage the attack ads had done.

“Maybe someday you’ll look back and say, ‘Boy, he should have pulled the gloves off,’ ” Mr. Byrnes said…

Mr. Gingrich has essentially bet his candidacy that the conventional wisdom of professional consultants — namely, that at some point every campaign must go negative because it works — is wrongheaded.