Ellis the Elephant 'Saved' Newt Gingrich

Politico
December 28, 2011
Karin Tanabe

To most, Callista Gingrich’s children’s book character, Ellis the Elephant, probably looks like a fluffy little American flag-waving cartoon animal. But to Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, he is much more.

In September, he called the arrival of Callista’s children’s book, “Sweet Land of Liberty,” “One of the most exciting events this fall.” But that praise has nothing on his recent comments in a New York Times magazine piece posted online on Wednesday. Gingrich said that the furry star of Callista’s book “saved" him during the summer months when he lost the majority of his senior campaign staff.

From the Times:

“The months of June and July were the hardest in my career,” he told me. “You had people you thought you knew and you liked, at places like Fox News, asserting enthusiastically that you were dead. Not sadly — enthusiastically, happily.” He sipped his coffee but looked as if it tasted bitter. “One of the things that actually saved us,” Gingrich told me, “in addition to Callista’s stubbornness, was Ellis the elephant.”

I checked to make sure I heard this right. Ellis the elephant is the main character in Callista’s new children’s book, “Sweet Land of Liberty,” a New York Times best seller. In what way had a fictional elephant salvaged his presidential campaign?

“Happy, positive,” Gingrich replied, searching for the right words. “Interesting. Creative. It gave you an oasis psychologically. Literally, Ellis was sort of a ray of light.”