I have to say...imho, Gingrich would destroy Obama in a debate.
Never...Gingrich really fed off the rowdy crowd tonight; it's hard to imagine a crowd so favorable in the general election. Even further, a lot of what gingrich says does border on being offensive, whether he likes it or not.
Take "food stamps President". If Newt were to make the same case against Obama, all O would really have to say is "I came into office with 10% unemployment and really a lot higher; and a dead private sector, and reality is these people wont be finding a job any time soon, so the options are give them food stamps to allow them to put food on the table, or leave them to starve while they search for jobs that don't exist".
If Newt tries to say obama is wrong, he will get booed.
Or take deregulize/no capital gains argument. Newt wants to make the US attractive to investors. Obama can say "we were attractive to investors, they came and got us into a enormous mess, and now rules exist to make sure it doesnt happen again. We argue about promoting economic growth, but abolishing the rules instilled to prevent more scoundrels from playing the majority of the system to benefit themselves won't help anything".
Basically, Obama's argument will be class warfare, and Newt doesn't seem to realize that he is feeding it with his "food stamps" and "make America attractive to invest in" comments.
