Ames, Iowa

On the day before the recent GOP straw poll, most of the Republican presidential candidates cruised the fabled Iowa State Fair grounds, competing for attention among the vendors hawking pork-chops-on-a-stick, deep-fried Twinkies, pickle dawgs and funnel cakes under a sweltering late-summer sun. Taking refuge inside the air-conditioned Varied Industries Building, and squeezed among displays of tractors, sewing machines, ATVs and portable oxygen tanks, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was doing some hawking of his own, autographing copies of his new novel about Pearl Harbor.

Since the crowds were more attracted to a free pull on a slot machine at a nearby booth, Newt was more than happy to chat about the current election environment--though "happy" would not be the most precise descriptor. More like glum. "The country is so very unhappy with this Administration," Gingrich said, "that if the Republican candidates stay within the current pattern, it's going to be very, very tough. They're going to have to learn from [French President] Sarkozy and make a clean break from the past, or else they're going to be in a world of trouble."

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