Newt is the hands down head of the class on history and policy and he'd naturally get my vote over Obama. But, he has some troubling quirks that will continue to bother me. His chameleon tendencies like the Nancy Pelosi love fest and his progressive attitude toward bigger and 'better' government are concerns that won't go away.
If Newt survives the attacks by his own party and gets the nomination, he needs to basically run some ads and appearances saying:
Obama is going to tell you some things about me, some are true, some are not. I’m here right NOW to set the record straight.
He can list off all his “wrongdoings” and address them right away (he’s already doing that but not everyone is seeing it).
Then, he might drop in the polls at the beginning with nowhere to go but up. It’s far better than having to continually fend off new attacks each week.