Today is a big day for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, indeed.Will it be a big, bad day?

First, today is the big South Carolina CNN debate — a true “make or break” debate since polls now show Gingrich coming on strong against front-runner former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (who is still 10 points ahead in one poll). New and old media punditry have been buzzing with the question: is it possible Gingrich can score an upset? Gingrich was widely viewed — putting the content of his comments aside –to have “won” the last Fox News debate from South Carolina in which Romney stumbled.

But then last night Matt Drudge had screaming headlines on his site about ABC News holding a “bombshell” interview with Gingrich’s ex-wife Marianne until after the primary. See our post and roundup HERE.

Now, according to reports, ABC is now likely to air the interview TONIGHT during Nightline — right after the debate.

This interview could well the the final chapter for Gingrich, even though his daughters have come to his defense, writing a letter to ABC and labelling his ex-wife “bitter.” (That’s the domestic equivalent of being a “disgruntled employee”)

What could Marianne say? Apparently it could be devastating if this Talking Points Memo that details some of the specifics she has said about Gingrich is any indication. It could truly sink him just when he is starting to rise again. And given what she may allege, it’s possible some Americans may feel relieved if in the end there is no chance he can get to the White House.

Photo via Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

[UPDATE...See more below.. There have been conflicting reports about when ABC will air it. The latest is that the network will air it Thursday night.]

She spoke to ABCNEWS reporter Brian Ross for two hours, and her explosive revelations are set to rock the trail.

But now a “civil war” has erupted inside of the network, an insider claims, on exactly when the confession will air!

MORE

ABCNEWS suits determined it would be “unethical” to run the Marianne Gingrich interview so close to the South Carolina Primary, a curious decision, one insider argued, since the network has aggressively been reporting on other candidates.

A decision was tentatively made to air the interview next Monday, after all votes have been counted.

Gingrich canceled a press conference on Wednesday to deal with the matter.

“He believes that what he says in public and how he lives don’t have to be connected,” Marianne Gingrich, Newt’s wife of 18 years, explained to ESQUIRE last year.

Developing…

Go to the link to read it in full.

Some thoughts:
1. I’ve always noted over the years that the key to Drudge’s exclusives is the sourcing. In this story, there is question of the timing. Did ABC just arrange this interview or did someone from some political circle facilitiate it being done at this time?
2. Earlier today Gingrich made a point of predicting the Romney campaign would pull out all stops to halt what Gingrich claimed was his strong advance in private polling in South Carolina. If you look at this story, perhaps this was what he was talking about.
3. Various blogs and Drudge dangle the suggestion that holding a story such as this is somehow unethical. In fact, I worked on at least one newspaper that avoided running last minute charges by a candidate that the other camp could not respond to. Even in local politics the election eve or close to election eve charge is legendary. The idea is that one side could try and swing the election at the last minute with something sensationalistic that may be false or not entirely accurate, not allowing the other side to respond in enough time and unfairly influencing the vote.
4. The real story here will be less about what his ex-wife says: what can she tell people about Gingrich that people already don’t suspect or think he is capable of? The REAL story is a)how did this story come about b)did she contact ABC out of the blue c)did ABC seek her out d)was she encouraged to come foward by the Romney camp?
5. It has always been suggested that Drudge had strong ties to the Republican establishment, but also during campaign 2008 of ties to the Hillary Clinton camp. No one knows for sure but in the news biz stories start with an enterprising reporter and/or editor or a news source. And if it’s a news source coming forward the question is always “why.” And “why” does he/she come froward at a certain time?

The CNN debate tomorrow night should be a GOOD one..

The Democrats must be loving all of this.

Because unless it is truly something catastrophic for Gingrich’s image, if this damages his new ascent there will be segment of Republicans who will blame Romney no matter what. And if Gingrich thinks it is being shoved into the media by the Romney camp he’ll say so in due course.

On the other hand, it is a natural story: exactly what DO Gingrich’s ex-wives think of him?

Some people have suggested the Huntsman daughters should have their own TV reality show. Actually, a better show would be a reality show featuring Gingrich’s ex-wives.

UPDATE: Websites and blogs are starting to weigh in.
–TPM:

While details dribble out from Drudge you can get a comprehensive backgrounder in this TPM article from 2010, which is a stunning reminder of just how much material Marianne has at her disposal.

Even now it’s an explosive read. (Forgive, however, the distorted picture, which was a victim of TPM’s recent reformatting).

–Weasel Zippers:

If it’s as bad as Drudge’s sources are telling him and ABC airs it before the primary Newt has zero chance of winning, especially when you consider he’s already trailing Romney….We know next to nothing about Obama and the MSM is already talking with Newt’s ex-wife.

--Allahpundit:

If her interview runs along those lines — Gingrichian egomania and hypocrisy but nothing criminal or lurid — I don’t know how much it’ll change things. You never know what information voters have and haven’t fully assimilated about a candidate, but Newt’s “values” problems have been public knowledge long enough that I take it they’re already mostly priced into his stock. He’s going to say she’s a disgruntled ex who’s making things up and, in any case, that he’s found redemption in his faith since the divorce. Unless she’s got a bombshell she’s ready to drop, how many voters thinking of voting for him at this point will really think twice?

Exit question: If the interview does air tomorrow, how hard will Santorum and Romney go after him at the debate over it? Santorum’s desperate to have social conservatives unite behind him, but this is an awfully messy attack to try with the, er, “Chevrolet” sitting in the audience in front of him.

--Gateway Pundit:

We all know that Newt Gingrich cheated on two of his three wives. He cheated on his wife Jackie, who had cancer, with Marianne Gingrich, the woman who gave an interview to ABC. If the details are simply that he was unkind to her or didn’t treat her right, well, surprise! You were the mistress! You helped break up a marriage and thus forfeited your right to be outraged when the next mistress usurped your spot as the new wife. I have no pity for the “other woman.” I guess that’s why I find Marianne Gingrich’s late-to-the-game interview so odd. Could there be any bigger bombshell than the story of their union?

That being said, ABC’s decision to drop this interview after the votes are counted in South Carolina has just been thwarted as the first shoe has been dropped. Everyone now expects the other one; they know that something is going to come out about Gingrich’s second marriage because of the Drudge headline. How will this affect voting? How will it affect fundraising? And will the details of the interview sufficiently match any loss of support that Gingrich may receive as a result?

As my colleague John Nolte said, “Drudge is amazing. He can literally stop the world from turning, something no MSM outlet can do.”

–TV Newser:

14 years ago this week, a little website called The Drudge Report posted a story claiming that Newsweek had killed a story about President Clinton having an inappropriate affair with an intern.

This evening, Drudge has a similar–albeit less explosive–scoop.

--Ricochet:

Two things I’m having a hard time working out here. First, how is it ethical to leak news of a “bombshell interview” and to claim that said interview could be a total game changer, but then not to release the interview so that voters can decide for themselves whether the information divulged therein was indeed important? Second, is there really anything that a spurned ex-wife could say about Newt Gingrich—a man whose personal life we’ve all long known to be a [hopefully formerly] disheveled mess—that could potentially damn his chances in the upcoming South Carolina primary?

–Slog:

If this is true, it’s a strange decision by ABC. Gingrich is on the rise in South Carolina, and a news outlet sitting on something like this—perhaps to pre-empt charges of being part of the dreaded Liberal Media Machine?—seems more manipulative than releasing it just before the primary.

–The Politico:

A knowledgeable source at ABC News downplayed this angle, telling POLITICO that the interview would in all likelihood air tomorrow.

Marianne, who was the victim of her ex-husband’s infidelities for six years, has spoken to the press just once so far this campaign cycle, in a long piece for Esquire magazine.

UPDATE: An ABC News executive also tells the AP that the network intends to run the interview on Thursday night, during Nightline.

And Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren has a letter from Gingrich’s daughters to ABC.

CAUTIONARY NOTE: Keep in mind no one knows the content of this. Drudge is hyping it and given Drudge’s impact on the Clinton presidency and the twists and turns of this campaign season his report will get good play. But until it actually airs, no one knows. It could be that whatever Gingrich’s wife says doesn’t really change things for most voters and that this is a lot of hype. But it could also be significant. Most important will be Gingrich’s reaction to this: if he suggests it’s was actually put into the media by operatives from the Romney camp, rather than due to an enterprising reporter or his ex wife, it could leave some lingering bitterness in GOP ranks come November. Remember he pointedly said earlier today that the Romney camp would pull out all stops to defeat him. Accurate? Or a cover story?

UPDATE II: Greta Wire has the letter from Gingrich’s daughters to ABC News.

Buzzfeed has the 5 nastiest things Marianne Gingrich has ever said about Newt.

UPDATE III: The Boston Herald provides the political context:

Only three percentage points separate Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in a national poll released today and 10 points apart in a new South Carolina poll.

The news comes as the Drudge Report states tonight the former House speaker’s ex-wife is ready to unload on him in an ABC/NEWS interview.

“Marianne Gingrich has said she could end her ex-husband’s career with a single interview,” Drudgereport.com states. The interview will probably not air until Monday, Drudge adds, after Saturday’s presidential primary.

Meanwhile, a Rasmussen Reports survey has the two just 3 percentage points apart in a national survey, with Romney at 30 percent to Gingrich’s 27 percent in South Carolina. That’s an 11 percent jump for Gingrich, who is launching one conservative rocket after another at his more moderate rival today.

A CNN poll for just South Carolina has Romney at 33 percent and Gingrich at 23 percent.

But the unhealthy demand for ideological purity obscures a hopeful fact about the GOP presidential field: There are actually two sensible, experienced grownups. And while Mr. Romney is far more appealing than any of the other choices, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is more principled, has a far more impressive resume and offers a significantly more important message.

An unnamed campaign advisor said, “Every vote we took in South Carolina and Florida was from him.”

In 2008, John McCain won in S.C. Romney came in fourth behind Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson.

Iowa took out Rep. Michele Bachmann; New Hampshire, Huntsman. Who will be the casualty next weekend?

UPDATE:

As expected, Former Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. of Utah formally announced that he is ending his Republican presidential run “with a call for party unity, asking the five candidates he leaves on the field to end their negative ads and chastising President Obama for engaging in ‘class warfare.’”

More from the New York Times:

“This race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the American people and not worthy of this critical time in our nation’s history,” he said in an address before a packed room of television cameras and reporters at the Convention Center here.

“I call on each campaign to cease attacking each other and instead talk directly to the American people about how our conservative ideas will create jobs, reduce our nation’s debt, stabilize energy prices and provide a brighter future for our children and our grandchildren.’’

Read more here

====

The New York Times reports that Jon M. Huntsman has informed his advisers that “he intends to drop out of the Republican presidential race, ending his candidacy a week before he had hoped to revive his campaign in the South Carolina primary.”

Huntsman plans to make an announcement as early as tomorrow, Monday.

The Times:

The impact of Mr. Huntsman’s departure is not clear. Polls have indicated that he has little support in South Carolina and his lack of money means that he had been unable to affect a campaign conversation that is dominated by television commercials now that it has moved out of the first two early primary states.

But his decision to leave at the start of the week means that the two debates this week — one on Monday and another on Thursday — will be less crowded.

Read More Here:

Personal Note: I am sorry to hear this development. Jon Hunstman was perhaps the only GOP presidential candidate who might have gotten my vote.

Image: http://jon2012.com/

Reports breaking this evening that Jon Huntsman will drop out of the 2012 Presidential race and endorse Mitt Romney for the nomination.

I can’t say I am surprised but I am disappointed that such a well qualified candidate could not proceed in the increasingly narrow Republican party.

The New York Times:

Mitt Romney has won the New Hampshire Republican primary, projections show, achieving a sweep of the first two critical contests in the 2012 presidential race and boosting his chances at becoming his party’s nominee this fall.

The New York Times and other news organizations declared Mr. Romney the winner in the race just moments after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Eastern time, based on exit polls and early returns. The margin of his victory and the order of those behind him remain uncertain until more votes are counted.

Mr. Romney barely won Iowa’s caucuses a week ago, besting Rick Santorum by a mere eight votes out of more than one hundred thousand cast.

Mr. Romney’s second White House bid had been premised from the beginning on the idea that he could win in New Hampshire, a state he has all-but adopted as his own in the years since Senator John McCain dashed his hopes here.

Read More here and here

From a New York Times Breaking News Alert:

William M. Daley, Obama’s Chief of Staff, Stepping Down, White House Officials Say

William M. Daley, President Obama’s chief of staff, is stepping down, White House officials confirmed Monday. The news was first reported by The Los Angeles Times. Mr. Daley, a former commerce secretary and the son and brother of Chicago mayors, was named to the post by Mr. Obama on Jan. 6, 2011.

Jacob J. “Jack” Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget, will take over Mr. Daley’s duties, officials say.

Here is the AP article.

Return with us to the thrilling days of yesteryear, where, astride his faithful steed Hedgefund, the fake cowboy/real gazillionaire from Wyoming spurred into the sunset and rode valiantly to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Salt Lake City Tribune takes up the tale [emphasis added]:

V.P. talks Iraq, borders in SLC

BY ROBERT GEHRKE
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 29, 2007 1:58 AM

Vice President Dick Cheney and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addressed some of the most influential leaders of the conservative movement Friday in Salt Lake City, but their speeches, like the group itself, remain cloaked in secrecy.

The Council for National Policy is a shadowy group comprising leaders in the family values, national defense and ”decency” movements, dubbed “Sith Lords of the Ultra-Right” by the liberal blog DailyKos. Members are told not to discuss the group, reveal the topics discussed in the closed-door meetings, or even say whether or not they are members of the organization.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” said a grinning Foster Friess, who was pleasant but steadfast in his unwillingness to talk about the group….

Who is Foster Friess? I did an entire series on him, which revealed some chilling stuff, and you can read here* if you’re interested. So, let’s just cut to the chase. Freiss is a long-time member and former officer of the Council for National Policy. They were the secret bunch who met in Salt Lake City. Founded by Tim LeHaye when he was running The Moral Majority for Jerry Falwell, and before he hit paydirt with his “Left Behind” apocalypse novel series. (You know, “Twilight” in basic Revelation.)

[* see end of piece.]*

Another member Foster regularly rubs elbows with is Joseph Farah, who runs World Net Daily, makes money off of birther paraphernalia and ghost wrote Rush Limbaugh’s See, I Told You So.

Joseph Farah

Friess is also the guy who sat down over lunch, pulled out his Osmium Visa Card and bankrolled Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel’s The Daily Caller to the tune of $3 million bucks, reportedly.

Friess is cozy with the Goldwater Institute and Clint Bolick, down in Phoenix, Arizona.

And Foster was present at the infamous Koch Brothers secret meeting in Aspen, Colorado a story that the New York Times reported and ThinkProgress broke.

See “They’re Going After The Wisconsin Teachers”

Neil Patel is his Jackson Hole Neighbor and was Dick Cheney’s chief of staff. Oh, and Cheney’s a Jackson Hole neighbor, too.

Friess was the largest single donor ($300K) to the Latina Republican Tea Party governor’s race in New Mexico in 2010, as listeners of KVOT in Taos, New Mexico are well aware.

And Friess is one of the TOP donors to Scott Walker’s “Don’t Recall Me, Bro!” campaign in Wisconsin THIS year. ($100K so far.)

Walker’s Out-Of-State Supporters, Opponents
December 24, 2011 – 6:36pm | Bill Lueders

[...]

Nearly half of the $5.1 million raised by the embattled Republican governor since July 1 came from outside of Wisconsin. In all of 2010, when Walker won a hotly contested election that included a primary, just 8 percent of the more than $8 million he raised came from out of state.

[...]

The largest single contributor to Walker’s campaign was Bob J. Perry, a homebuilder in Houston, Texas, who gave $250,000. Perry is a prominent funder of conservative causes. He gave more than $4 million to Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, a group that helped torpedo 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. In 2010, he gave $7 million to American Crossroads, a Republican campaign fund.

The next biggest donors are Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein, who gave a total of $205,000. The couple lives in Lake Forest, Illinois, and own Uline Inc., a shipping and packaging business headquartered in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. (On Friday, Walker attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Uline plant set to open in Hudson, Wis.) Foster Friess, an investor in Jackson, Wyoming, also gave Walker $100,000.

Walker’s largest Wisconsin contributors were Thomas and Ruth Schuette of Wausau, who each gave $50,000

Friess is the fellow who spoke at the Tea Party Patriots’ Phoenix wingding last year.

And Friess is the fellow standing behind Rick Santorum for his  20-minute “Game On!” quasi-victory speech in Iowa.

Screencap from Fox News Latino Video is 19 min.

Oh, and he runs Santorum’s superPAC “Red, White and Blue” which just did a big ad buy in South Carolina.:

Pro-Santorum PAC in S.C. for $190k
Posted by CNN Senior Producer Kevin Bohn

UPDATE: Red, White and Blue will run ads in Greenville, Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina supported by $190,000 starting this weekend. The group says it spent a total of $537,000 in Iowa.

[...]

Conservative activist Foster Friess, a major Wyoming investment executive, confirmed to CNN he is one of the major supporters behind Red, White and Blue and vowed to CNN to help increase the group’s ability to put out a message supporting Santorum.

“I have been a fan since I met Rick Santorum in 1996,” Friess told CNN by telephone Thursday. He went to Iowa this week and campaigned alongside Santorum in a pickup truck along with a small group of others and spoke at one of the precinct caucuses on the former Senator’s behalf Tuesday night.

He refused to say how much he so far has donated to the group. “I don’t want my wife to find out,” he joked…

Always with the funny, that Foster.

My father was originally posted to the Jim Bridger National Forest when he entered the Forest Service — the National Forest around Jackson Hole, Teton National Park and Yellowstone — and he taught me something he learned in the forest, fresh from Kansas: if you want to know what’s going on, watch the animals.

If you want to know when a New York subway train is coming, watch the rats.

If you want to know where the odd admixture of Kochian and Dominionist interests is going, watch Foster Friess.

from his website: “Man Atop The Horse.” Friess grew up in Wisconsin
And made all his money in Delaware. But he is now rich enough to play “cowboy.”

Courage.

Note: The J H Underground blog also caught this, and deserves your attention. Kudos.

The Foster Friess Series (all photos are linked and explained there)

• Tucker Carlson is Keith Olbermann; I am Glenn Beck (18 July)
• More Fake Cowboys (23 July)
• The Biggest Foundation That You’ve Never Heard Of (1 Aug. )
• Following Foster’s Buddies’ Money (10 Aug.)
• Foster’s Dominionist Pals (13 Aug.)
• Rubber Baby Buggy Bunglers (18 Aug.)
• Tucker Carlson – Profeshunel Jurnuhlizzum Strikes Agin! (12 Nov.)
• How Friess Fosters Tuckers Out – Conclusion (Dec. 31, 2010)