You knew him?
Yes....he was my girl friend's faculty adviser and shared an office with my faculty adviser.
My girlfriend was so impressed she changed her major to History and took four classes under him. I also met him at a few social engagements she was invited to.
In an offbeat way, it was Newt who turned me from being a typical, college educated liberal into a conservative.
You see, Newt's reputation at WGC was that of a bit of a hippie. (and I knew, for a fact, that he would not be able to pass the Douglas Ginsburg test of never having smoked marijuana)
When Newt announced he was running for Congress, that was not a big surprise. But that he was running as a Republican was a shocker. (in many ways...as this was still "The Solid South" and Republicans were as rare as hen's teeth)
But I thought little about it as I was living my life until he started making waves in DC (Minority Whip, IIRC) and came to the attention of the National media.
I had my TV on as background and started to hear things said about Newt that I knew to be untrue. I mean KNEW to be untrue and that he was being reported on falsely by my previously sainted Woodward/Bernstein soaked mindset.
So much so that I thought, "Hmmm...if they are lying to me about this, what ELSE have they been lying to me about?"
I then vowed to read what 'the other side' had to say.
After reading Sowell, Rand, Horowitz, Hayek etc. you can see that they made a compelling case and that I also knew then why Newt ran as a Republican.