I BLAME MIKE HUCKABEE

I can't find the citation, but I recall Newt Gingrich stating that Huckabee introduced him to the Fundie talk circuit and that seems to have paid off because the Fundies are no longer allergic to this dishonest creep:

Evangelicals Flocking Toward Newt Gingrich
Nov 28, 2011 12:00 AM EST
NEWSWEEK

Yet on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, when most of the GOP candidates gathered in the First Federated Church in Des Moines for a FAMiLY Leader forum, the consensus was that Gingrich came out on top. Partly that’s because he’s been preparing his theocentric message for a while, particularly since converting to Catholicism, Callista’s religion, in 2009, which he has said strengthened his appreciation for the role of faith in public life. In recent years, his writing and speaking have become increasingly religious and even apocalyptic, limning a great world-historical show-down between the forces of Christian civilization and those of what he calls "secular-socialism," which weakens society, allowing for the spread of radical Islam.