Edition: U.S. / Global

Gingrich, on Book Tour, Quickly Wields the Pen

Published: July 7, 1995

Far from the madding legislation, the Speaker moved the goods, signing "Newt" with mercantile abandon into each $24 copy of his new book as a line of devotees moved past, cash in hand, heart on sleeve.

"Hey, Newt, you get rich yet?" a New York voice bellowed from the nonbuying part of the audience yesterday at Barnes & Noble's Fifth Avenue store, where Speaker Newt Gingrich, flushed with success in wielding majority control over Congress, seemed born to the ephemeral art of book touring.

He ignored the bellower and kept smiling and signing more than 650 books in an hour's visit. But when the line seemed to be dissipating earlier than scheduled, he instantly adapted. He signaled a woman to let her three small children come forward to smile alongside him as he re-hefted a copy of "To Renew America" (HarperCollins) just before a throng of reporters knocked a case of romance novels to the floor in the touch of frenzy that every book tour needs.

Outside, a lone dissenter walked with a sign inviting people to meet the Speaker -- "Rupert Murdoch's latest acquisition." The man and his sarcasm were easily outnumbered by buyers several hundred to one.

"He's striking while the iron is hot," explained Ron Colombo, a 23-year-old paralegal not at all scandalized by Mr. Gingrich's fast instincts for tapping into celebrity book writing. "I vote, I discuss, and I'm impressed with the man's leadership and commitment."

"What about running for President?" came a question shouted at Mr. Gingrich.

"Right now, I'm not thinking about it," he said, jotting "Newt" with a flash of his pen. "I'm just thinking of how to sign books."

He was a man of his word and kept his calm -- even when a woman stepped up and leaned toward him, as if from the nearby section of bodice-rippers, and hugged the fresh signature as if it were the man. "I love you! I love everything you do!" she declared.

The Speaker allowed a second to seem startled, smiled and said, "Thank you," and moved ahead, signing the next book for the next customer, his pace taut as if a House recess were approaching.

The underside of celebrity was hinted at as a large security contingent nervously watched over the Speaker. Customers first paid for the book and submitted their packages to security before being allowed to approach Mr. Gingrich as he sat at a card table in shirt sleeves.

"I think you write a book and you go out and ask people to look at what you actually believe, not just what they see on nine-second sound bites," Mr. Gingrich explained when asked what he was up to in visiting 25 cities this summer in a promotional tour. "Hopefully the book will convince a lot of people that I'm much closer to their values than they might expect."

Midway in the signing, 10 demonstrators arrived to denounce Mr. Gingrich and shout, "Stop the war against the poor!" They were soon penned apart by the police across Fifth Avenue outside Brentano's, where the featured books in the window were all about summering in the Hamptons. Trevor Dick, clutching his newly signed copy of Mr. Gingrich's book, crossed over to tell them they were wrong.

"This guy's like an electric shock to this decaying society of ours," Mr. Dick said.

The crowd of buyers was nowhere near the mobs attracted by such earlier self-made celebrities and book hawkers as the "shock jock" Howard Stern. Police barricades were hardly necessary, and several people were there simply to indulge their celebrity-watching habit or, more peculiar to part of Mr. Gingrich's attraction, perhaps, to occasionally shout something venomous or encouraging.

"He's got that Apollo flavor: He lathers the public," said Beatrice Young, who came from upstate to see him but not to buy the book. "Personally, I'm a Tip O'Neill fan, but I confess I was once a young Republican and voted for Reagan," she added, turning as if in warning to Curt Ritter, a 23-year-old public relations worker next in line. Mr. Ritter had already read the book as he waited fervidly to have it autographed by his favorite American politician.

Proceeds from copies sold during the signings on the tour will be donated to his own anti-illiteracy program, "Earning By Learning," but Mr. Gingrich's office had no other word on what might be done with the larger profits.

The book-buying line was notable for the number of young people attracted to Mr. Gingrich. "I discovered him during the National Hockey League walkout," said Randell Hansen, a 16-year-old student decked out in a Ranger hockey shirt and a cap that he turned peak forward in politeness as he approached the Speaker.

"With no hockey, I started watching politics and liked what Newt says. Americans should work, you know?" said the teen-ager, looking over at the Speaker who, indeed, worked away, signing the goods.