With Newt Gingrich's impressive rise in state and national polls over the past few weeks comes the predictable attacks from his opponents — and on Monday the former House Speaker and his top challenger, former front-runner Mitt Romney, sounded like they were reciting talking points from the Democratic National Committee. After Romney hit GIngrich for his sweet Freddie Mac deal (which earned him a cool $1.6 million as a "historian"), Gingrich fired back, saying Mitt should give back all the money "he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain [Capital, the private-equity investment firm where he formerly worked]."

Gingrich's debate performances have stood out up till now in part because he hasn't acted like a meanie. Instead, he has taken an above-it-all attitude which allows him to mock the (liberal) press for trying to bring down fellow Republicans.

But now that he's the front-runner, the attacks are going to come, and Gingrich has decided he can't lose the positive spirit that has boosted his stock. On Tuesday morning he sent out a missive to his followers, in which he said he will continue to adhere to Ronald Reagan's infamous 11th Amendment, that thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican.

This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2011.