But now Coburn – who declared a year ago that Gingrich is “the last person I’d vote for for president” and lacks the character to lead the nation — offers a brisk no comment when approached.

Former Rep. Bill Paxon, who sought to overthrow Gingrich, says he’d rather not revisit the past. Even Armey, the former majority leader under Gingrich turned fierce rival, has an aide say they’re “keeping quiet on Newt, for now.”

“I get the calculation they’re making,” Todd said. “Do they want to go through the constant, ‘Well, you said this, but then you said this’? Maybe they don’t want to do that. My guess is at some point they’re going to wish they did, but they are making the decision not to.”

That point may be now. One month out from the Iowa caucuses, with Gingrich breaking through in the polls, the media beast is growing increasingly restless and no longer feels the need to take Romney’s dismissiveness in stride.

“I think the zeitgeist moment that you’re seeing this week is Romney’s strategy beginning to backfire on him,” Klein said.

For three decades, the Republican who won South Carolina's presidential primary has also won the GOP nomination.

That record helps explain why Newt Gingrich, a self-described lover of history, is working more aggressively than any of his competitors to organize activists and volunteers ahead of the Jan. 21 primary, essentially pinning his candidacy on a state filled with Christian conservatives.