Two topics Newt Gingrich should avoid dissing others about: Infidelity and Carpetbagging

Newt Gingrich's latest charge against Doug Hoffman is ---egads--he doesn't live within the 23rd District.

It's about 10 minutes through thinly populated mountains from Hoffman's Lake Placid home (in the 20th District) to his Saranac Lake HQ.  It's not like he lives in another part of the state; it's just Essex County got bisected in the 2002 redistricting.

Why this is a bizarre charge for Gingrich to make is he himself ran in a district he didn't live in; and based on my knowledge of Georgia geography, was about an hour from where he lived when he filed for election.   

During the 1990s round of redistricting, Georgia picked up an additional seat as a result of the 1990 United States Census. However, the Democrat-controlled General Assembly dismantled Gingrich's old district, which stretched from the southern suburbs of Atlanta to the Alabama border. Gingrich's home in Carrollton was drawn into the Columbus-based 3rd District, represented by five-term Democrat Richard Ray.

At the same time, the Assembly created a new 6th District in Fulton and Cobb counties in the wealthy northern suburbs of Atlanta — an area Gingrich had never represented. However, Gingrich sold his home in Carrollton, moved to Marietta in the new 6th and won a very close Republican primary. The primary victory was tantamount to election in the new, heavily Republican district. Also, Ray narrowly lost to Republican state senator Mac Collins.

Evidently, Newt thought his continued service in Congress was more valuable than electing a Cobb County native to the House. The voters agreed, although I recall Newt's relocation was not met with universal approval from his new constituents.

If Newt has a credible excuse for his Beltway brain freeze, he's yet to provide it.  The fact creative cartography divided parts of the Adirondacks sure isn't one of them.