Former  House Speaker Newt Gingrich lost handedly in Florida yesterday to GOP  presidential rival fomer Governor Mitt Romney. By a large margin, women  showed their disgust in his prior treatment of the women in his life.  With men, he also was not that popular.

During  last night's speech after the Florida results were in, Gingrich not  only didn't congratulate Romney on the win, but he also dissed the two  other contenders in the race, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum  and Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul.

Gingrich  pronounced that Florida proved it was a "two-man race" which centers on  him and Romney. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Both Santorum  and Paul are very much in the contest as February focuses on caucus  states which require organization, which Gingrich is sorely lacking.

Just  last week he tried to demand that Santorum get out of his way because  he was the only true Reagan conservative. Santorum vowed to remain in  the race. Speaking from Nevada, he had words for Gingrich that Florida  had given the message that Gingrich was not the darling of conservatives  he claims to be.

Apparently  Gingrich's nastiness is contagious. His security staff apparently got  physical with a Paul supporter who dared to stand near a Florida polling  station with a Paul sign, after the man had cast his ballot. The  Gingrich staff took issue with the man being seen when Gingrich was  shaking hands and speaking to other voters.

Next time, Eddie Dillard won't wear flip-flops.

Dillard,  a 29-year-old Ron Paul supporter from this suburb near Orlando, arrived  to vote at his precinct at Winderemere Baptist Church early Tuesday  morning. Pulling into the parking lot, Dillard noticed a man outside the  polling place with a Gingrich sign. He decided to run home, slip into  his "Ron Paul Rocks America" T-shirt, grab a "Ron Paul 2012" sign from  his garage, and return to give his candidate some representation outside  the precinct after he cast his vote.

Dillard found a quiet spot  along a sidewalk lined with tiny American flags and held up his sign.  Little did he know, Newt Gingrich had chosen that very spot to make his  first Primary Day campaign stop.

When Gingrich's bus pulled up,  Dillard stood silently holding his sign and watched the news-media horde  swamp the candidate. Gingrich stepped down from the bus and made a  beeline for Dillard. He stopped in front of Dillard and his sign and  parked himself for a round of handshaking and pictures with voters. The  placement couldn't have been worse. There was Gingrich, standing with  his wife Callista at their first event of the day, and a giant Ron Paul  sign floated inches from their crowns.

Noticing the awkward  optics, Gingrich aides and security personnel swarmed Dillard, trying to  intimidate him into moving. One of Gingrich's security agents stepped  in front of him. When Dillard didn't budge, the agent lifted his heeled  shoe over Dillard's bare foot and dug the back of it into his skin,  twisting it side-to-side like he was stomping out a cigarette. Shocked,  Dillard kept his ground and took a picture of the agent with his phone,  which was quickly knocked out of his hand. Dillard slipped off his  flip-flop to pick up the phone with his foot, and a Gingrich supporter  kicked the sandal away.

"Don't kick me!" Dillard said to the man  who knocked away his sandal. More members of Gingrich's security retinue  approached, shoving their shoulders and chests in front of him.

"Just block him!" a Gingrich campaign aide said. "Everyone step on his toes!"

Gingrich  supporters handed a "Newt 2012" yard sign up to the front to put in  front of Dillard's Paul sign. The two signs, zipping back and forth  inches from Gingrich's head, circled each other in the air like fighter  jets in a dogfight.

When the candidate finished taking pictures with voters, furious Gingrich aides grilled Dillard.

"If  we did this to you, you guys would be furious," said an aide before  stomping back toward the bus. "They have no class. No class."

As  Gingrich pulled away, Dillard looked down at his foot. With the  adrenaline pumping, he hadn't noticed the pain, but now it was starting  to sink in. A bruise was forming, and there was a cut mark where the  security agent had dug in his heel.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/everyone-step-toes-gingrich-security-harasses-ron-paul-165042767.html

Paul's  campaign has called on the Gingrich campaign to apologize to Dillard.  As of this writing, the Gingrich team has yet to respond.

But the actions of Gingrich supporters is indicative of the candidate himself.

This  is the side of Gingrich that many colleagues and long-time political  watchers remember too well from his days in the Congress.

From  the Cornfield, Gingrich keeps claiming to be a new Newt. If that is so,  then he needs to put the old Newt back to in the coffin and show that  he has changed...not in words, but in actions and with the civility that  he keeps claiming others lack.

Actions, Mr. Speaker, speak much louder than all your verbosity.