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Ted S. Warren / AP
Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at a campaign rally at Great Basin Brewing Company Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012, in Reno.
By Anjeanette Damon (contact) 
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 | 7:10 p.m.
RENO — Newt Gingrich just suffered a crushing defeat in Florida. He has virtually no campaign organization in Nevada and what little he does have wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders Wednesday.
Despite that, the former House speaker, who has spent much of the campaign on the edge of bombast, drew an overflow crowd Wednesday at a Reno brewery.
Yes, the beer was flowing, and, yes, Renoites have been known to be drawn to such beverages. (At one point, when the sounds system faltered, a man at the back shouted: “It’s alright. We’re all drunk.”)
But many in the crowd were genuinely enthused to see a presidential candidate in their midst.
Constant chants of “Newt! Newt! Newt!” erupted from the crowd, which cheered when he promised to authorize the Keystone Pipeline (an issue with little local appeal), vowed to “dismantle 40 percent” of what the Obama administration has done and criticized the president for “kneeling before a Saudi king.”
The scene in Reno, where scores of people stood in the parking lot after the restaurant filled, was a marked contrast to the tepid crowds that greeted Gingrich in Florida.
The boisterous crowd made an impression on the candidate, who took his campaign bus for a high-profile spin around a local mall before heading out of town.
“When I landed here in the middle of the night, I had no idea Reno would be so hospitable this morning,” Gingrich said.
Still, it was unclear whether the crowd’s enthusiasm was geared toward Gingrich, or the fact a GOP presidential candidate is finally campaigning in the state. Or if it will translate into support at the caucuses Saturday.
Gingrich still lacks a campaign organization in Nevada and is counting on momentum from South Carolina to see him through a state where former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the favorite.
But Gingrich’s distant second-place finish in Florida sapped some of his momentum and he has no turnout machine here to fall back on.
One of his campaign volunteers spent the time before Gingrich arrived at the Reno rally imploring the crowd to sign up and volunteer to be Gingrich’s spokespeople at the caucuses.
Gingrich’s rivals, Romney and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, have been oiling their machines for months, recruiting precinct captains, identifying supporters and making sure they get to the caucuses.
Those machines have seen Romney through New Hampshire and Florida.
With the caucuses just three days away, many attended the rally hoping to make a choice in the race.
“I’m trying to figure it out,” said Megan Overton, a Reno Republican who said she plans to caucus on Saturday. “There are things that I like and don’t like about all of them. The person I personally feel most connected to is Rick Santorum. The only reason I’m holding back is I don’t know if enough of the country will back him.
“We need someone with enough money who will fight back and talk loud enough.”
She acknowledged that Gingrich is particularly adept at amplifying his voice above the fray.
The “trying to figure it out” crowd was thick at the Gingrich event.
Bob Hardenbrook, wearing a “Win with Goldwater” button on his baseball cap, said he can’t settle on a favorite among Gingrich, Santorum and Romney. Hardenbrook, 72, was at the Gingrich rally, but didn’t like the Gingrich-supported attacks on Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital. “I was upset when he ganged up on capitalism,” he said. “I like the fact that Governor Romney has management experience instead of just being in Congress.”
Ann Marie Holley, 49, of Reno held a Gingrich sign, but said she was torn between Gingrich and Romney, not sure which one was better positioned to win in November.
“I’m going to support the Republican who can defeat Obama,” Holley said.
Working for a temp agency for the past year and unable to find full-time employment, she’s frustrated with the Democratic administration, saying it was going down a “socialist” road.
For his part, Gingrich vowed to reform the unemployment benefits system, promising to require anyone receiving benefits to attend a job training program.
“Never again will we pay someone 99 weeks for doing nothing,” he told the cheering crowd.
Later, Gingrich brushed aside the notion that the unemployed in Nevada — with the highest rate in the nation — might be put off by his suggestion they have been “doing nothing.”
“I would say they would be much better off if they had a 99-week training program to give them the skills to go out and find a job,” he said.
Gingrich’s hope is to consolidate the anti-Romney voters.
Andrea Young, of Reno, supported Romney four years ago, but was disappointed when he ceded the race to U.S. Sen. John McCain.
“He bailed way too soon,” Young said. “McCain was such a wimp — Obama has so much baggage that he was too afraid to bring up.”
Gingrich isn’t “afraid to hurt anyone’s feelings,” she said.
Kim Bacchus, of Reno, is also attracted to that perceived toughness. At a time when many Republicans are rebelling against the establishment, Bacchus said Gingrich’s knowledge of Congress makes him the perfect antidote to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, known as a master of process.
“He knows how to combat the political gamesmanship of Harry Reid,” she said, describing Reid as Nevada’s gifted politician.
But it wasn’t Gingrich’s toughness or policy chops that attracted Keith Rush, who enjoyed a pitcher of brew with his friends during the speech. It was Gingrich’s ability to appeal to the “common man.”
“From what I hear, he likes women and he likes to have a drink,” Rush said. “I don’t know if I could share a beer with Romney.”
David McGrath Schwartz contributed to this report.
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I heard Santorums little dialogue with a woman facing humongous health care costs in regard to her son and Santorums response of comparing drug costs to an iPad was rather disgusting. An ipad is discretionary spending where spending on drugs is to save your life. This coming from a guy who is on a government health care plan paid for by taxpayers. I can't even buy health insurance in Nevada....at any cost.
Santorum is a loser. I'm all for making your own way but when the playing field is skewed, I have to vote for the guy who is going to make it fair for all. Is that Newt or Santorum? Doubtful.
I would need lots of beer to tolerate and cheer for the likes of Gingrich as well. Bottoms up!
Hey vegas201,
Here is your saintly Santorum and his wonderful outlook for families (other than his own):
"GOP contender Rick Santorum had a heated exchange with a mother and her sick young son Wednesday, arguing that drug companies were entitled to charge whatever the market demanded for life-saving therapies."
Yep, free market drug prices for sick Americans, except for the life time free health care benefits Rick Santorum enjoys being a former Senator.
If Senators and Representatives were forced to accept the same health care coverage of the average American, the Health Care bill would have passed by unanimous voice vote.
There is no way in hell that I could ever vote for a man whose name is now a universal joke on Google. Do a Google search on "Santorum" and then tell me you want that to come up when people look up the President of the United States.
If I was a Republican I'd drink heavily too.
Choices:
Romney - Wall St. corporate slash & burn career, of shredding companies and killing jobs for quick profit.....then there's the LDS issue with GOP bible thumpers.
Gingrich - Mr. Family values, 3 wives and 2 flings (to date). Odd ball policies like child labor and moon bases,.....Moon bases, thought you said the US was broke Newt?? Newt more Moonbat than Presidential.
Paul - Favorite of those who want free drug use and not regulation or oversight of anything, think 1770, drunk population because the water was contaminated, no roads, no sidewalks, outhouses and zero world view.
Santorum - The American Taliban. Would impose mandatory evangelical laws, policies and doctrines. If elected, immediate war with Iran, which (similar to GW Bush) would equate War with Iran as a 21st century crusade against islam.
This is the options the GOP has for their candidate........PATHETIC.
....""bloomberg verses federal reserve 12.8 tril $$""...and...pbs.org frontline ""inside the meltdown ""...the facts are all there !!
Still not committed to a candidate. Not feeling the love for any of them. But I'll vote the candidate who has the best chance of beating the current admin.
Romney's Slogan Could be "Millionaires for Billionaires". But that could really sum up the Entire Republican Party.
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Anybody is better than Obama's gloom and doom economic future, with Nevada's favorite son Senator Reid ,the obstructionist, who won't vote on any bills from the House that would help the economy and provide jobs, he has got to be killing all the taxpayers in Nevada with playing politics instead of doing his job, massive debt, more foreclosures,high unemployment, 0 interest for Seniors on their retirement savings , PS do the country a favor and vote this bum out of office !
Obviously the post above doesn't realize how much greedy rich business corporations have given to Obama's campaign ...read "throw them all out" ..Obama has been blatant about giving most of the stimulus to business cronies in washington...take a look at how much Obama's campaign has raised ...look at the liberal media who is owned by rich business corporations ...so the "millionaires for Billionairs" could very well be a democrat agenda for a uptopian state ...just look at Greece ...Obama could very well lead us there and why would Obama have the word "Dhimmitude" on page 107 of his healthcare bill...which is meaning Muslim system of controlling non-muslims populations...It's not even an English word ..and since Muslims are exempt from from a government mandate (becuase it's considered gambling(insurance)...you the taxpayers gets to pay for them.
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So they were drunk in Reno when they greeted Newt ? Guess the whole country was drunk then when they elected Oblamer !