Newt Gingrich has so many skeletons in the closet it's not even worth engaging the media on its own terms. The latest is a report by Bloomberg showing the former House speaker mischaracterized his consultant work for mortgage giant Freddie Mac by the tune of at least $1.3 million. But Gingrich, who a new McClatchy-Marist poll found does better against President Obama than any other GOP candidate, is keenly-aware of his past foibles and has already begun his boom-let counterstrike: hit the media right back.

This morning, the Gingrich campaign purchased an ad in The Daily Caller's morning newsletter urging voters to ignore the noise of the mainstream press. "Despite every media attempt to prematurely write this campaign's eulogy, Speaker Gingrich continues to take advantage of the heavy debate schedule to win voters with his substantive ideas and bold policies," reads the letter. In a nod to the conservative news portal the Drudge Report, the ad reproduces the front-page billing his rise in the polls earned on the website. (sidenote: no mention of the Bloomberg story anywhere on Drudge today). Twisting the knife a little further, the newsletter sneers at past attempts to write off his campaign.  "Much of the liberal media are claiming that the recent events on the campaign trail amounts to further proof of their hypothesis that Mitt Romney is the inevitable nominee. Thankfully, these pundits don’t get to choose our President or have any track record of making accurate predictions; remember when Newt’s campaign was over months ago?"

Gingrich struck a similar chord Monday, telling Jacksonville's WBOB radio that the media was out to destroy him because he is "probably the greatest threat" to President Obama. The political press “did everything they could to kill my campaign,” he said. “I fully expect them to dig up everything they can, throw the kitchen sink at me and see if they can stop me.” The statements echoed Newt's proclamation last week that the media's editorial "judgement" is misplaced. "What does it mean to the elite news media that nobody in the country ever walks up to us and raises the questions you raise."

So what, pray tell, is Gingrich afraid the press might use to slander him? We can think of a few things:

• Violating House ethics rules as Speaker of the House which eventually resulted in a $300,000 fine.
• Admitting to having an affair during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
• Getting married three times.
• That ballooning line of credit at Tiffany's.
• The number of moderate to liberal positions he's since gone back on, which include denouncing Paul Ryan's budget plan in May, advocating health care reform that involves a "transfer of finances" from rich to poor and conceding that humans have contributed to global warming saying "we should address it very actively."

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John Hudson