RALEIGH In June, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s presidential aspirations were pronounced dead by the Washington insiders and pundits.

In the pundits’ minds, Gingrich had committed the cardinal sin of criticizing a fellow Republican on the handling of policy and legislation — a policy (reforming Medicare and Social Security) that Gingrich knew instinctively was “red hot” electorally. As a student of past elections, Gingrich understood that if not handled right, the Democrats would use the issue to scare seniors, to the disadvantage of the GOP.

In fact, Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer confidently stated this about Gingrich: “This is a big deal. He’s done. He didn’t have a big chance from the beginning, but now it’s over. . . . He won’t recover.”

Krauthammer believed that Gingrich had violated Ronald Reagan’s “11th Commandment” by questioning a fellow Republican, and that his statements were “deadly” for Gingrich’s presidential aspirations.

A media firestorm ensued, and Washington elites and the K Street establishment piled on.

There was a mass exodus from the campaign by numerous staff and consultants. Many subsequently joined Rick Perry’s team. Gingrich has said numerous times that June and July were the toughest two months of his entire political career.

To the astonishment of the establishment and the political elites, Gingrich dug in and continued to campaign, drawing large crowds in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire. Then the first round of debates kicked in, and to Republican activists it was clear who was speaking to them and who they wanted across the stage from President Barack Obama in the fall of 2012.

Now as we enter the critical months of the GOP primaries, Gingrich is surging in the polls; as I write, he is the front-runner in the Republican presidential race. How did this happen and how could the pundits and elites be so wrong?

First, it was sheer perseverance on the former speaker’s part that has gotten him back into contention. Newt Gingrich has the energy of man half his age, and he works tirelessly every day. Over the years he has traveled countless miles for Republican candidates and, for lack of a better term, is a “chronic” campaigner. By his own account, in his lifetime he has probably given over 15,000 speeches.

Second, his message of American “exceptionalism” resonates with Republican and tea party activists.

The former House speaker has avoided attacking his opponents and has stated that the focus should be on Obama and not one another. And in doing so he has adopted the role of statesman.

Gingrich has run an unconventional campaign – relying on news coverage, social media, Facebook and Twitter. He has roughly 1.3 million Twitter followers and 175,000 Facebook fans. Not only has he caught fire with the grass roots, but social media have introduced him to college students nationwide who may well provide him with troops on the ground in the upcoming primaries.

Finally, in the view of many, Gingrich is the most important Republican after Reagan in their lifetimes. Like Reagan, he is offering real solutions to a nation plagued with dysfunctional government.

Next year, the political dynamics may well be working in Newt Gingrich’s favor.

Marc Rotterman, who worked in the Reagan administration and is a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation, operates a public relations firm in Raleigh.