Newt Gingrich had some fun with an Etch-a-Sketch at a campaign event on Wednesday afternoon. "Anybody know what this is? What's this?" he asked the crowd, while holding up the classic red kids' toy. He was making a reference to some comments that Romney advisor Eric Fehrnstrom made a few hours before on CNN's Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien. Talking about how the fall campaign would be "almost like an Etch-a-Sketch," Fehrnstrom said, "You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again." Gingrich couldn't resist a retort: "How many of you have ever had an Etch-a-Sketch?" he continued. "My children had Etch-a-Sketches, they were great for car rides. But you'll notice that their pictures aren't permanent, their pictures aren't locked down. You can redo it any time you want. That's the problem."

Well. You've gotta hand it to Newt: He is consistent. This is hardly the first time he's used a prop to make a cheeky political point, and boy, does he have this routine down. So much so that he one-upped Rick Santorum, who also held up an Etch-a-Sketch at a campaign event after Fehrnstrom's comments. But Newt's prop ruled supreme. It had special designs on the front. We can't quite see what, though. It resembles an American flag (though from far away it could also be a British Union Jack), and he sure does hold it with steadfast confidence. Now, to channel HuffPost's White House reporter Sam Stein, Obama's campaign must respond. Oh wait, they did their Etch-a-Sketch trick two years ago…

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Adam Clark Estes