In an interview with Wolf Blitzer that will air today at 5:25 pm E.T. on CNN, Newt Gingrich said he will ask Sarah Palin “to play a major role” in his administration if elected President.
Gingrich’s remarks come a day after the former Alaska governor and vice-Presidential candidate made waves by offering a quasi-endorsement of Gingrich on Fox News.
“I want to see this thing continue because iron sharpens iron,” Palin told Fox’s Sean Hannity. “If I had to vote in order to keep it going, I would vote for Newt.”
Palin recently said she was unsure whether her endorsement would actually help any candidates at the moment, which may help to explain her slightly unconventional fist-bump for Newt. She explained it further this way:
“I want more debates, more vetting of candidates, because we know the mistake made in our country four years ago with having a candidate that was not vetted to the degree that he should have been.”
Most observers, and even most of the presidential campaigns, now say that if Mitt Romney wins South Carolina’s primary this Saturday – even by a slim margin – then the race is in effect over, and it will be all but impossible for the other candidates to challenge him credibly for the nomination. However, polls suggest Gingrich may be making gains in the state, and should he be able to unite the “anti-Romney” vote behind him, then he could attract enough money and support to help prolong the contest. Conservative commentators including talk show host Laura Ingraham and RedState founder Erick Ericksson have recently said that Rick Perry should drop out before Saturday in order to help solidify support behind Newt Gingrich.
