Gingrich Tries Iowa Nice While Iowans Rip Cain, Romney for Skipping Reagan Dinner

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tried on a little Iowa nice Friday at the annual Ronald Reagan Dinner in Des Moines, and it may have worked as many in attendance said he looked the best of the five presidential candidates who spoke.

Rather than take down his fellow Republicans seeking the GOP presidential nomination, he propped them up.

Ron Paul, he said, "has been consistently correct" about the need to audit the federal reserve. He called Rick Perry his "mentor on the 10th Amendment." Michele Bachmann "stood up to Republican leadership when she was virtually alone." And, "No one has done more to arouse America and understand its dangers than Rick Santorum," the former Georgia Congressman said.

"This is a great group. There are a couple I wish were here tonight, and if they were, I would have said nice things about them, but we'll skip over that," Gingrich said in reference to the absence of Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, the top two according to some some polls.

Approached prior, Gingrich told Patch that, "I think it is a mistake," that Romney and Cain didn't attend, but that was about as negative as it got on Friday evening.

"I am here with very fine competitors, not opponents. We only have one opponent. That is Barack Obama," he said.

Bachmann, Santorum, Paul and Perry all had high points as well, as they stuck to familiar campaign themes and earned the occasional applause from the audience during 10 minutes speeches.

But Gingrich's tone apparently resonated with many of the 1,000 in attendance. He received one of the only standing ovations, and he was swarmed shortly after he delivered the final speech of the evening.

"I just thought Gingrich blew the rest of them away tonight," said Kristin Jeffries, of Waukee, describing his speech as "intelligent."

Chad Nicholl, 37, of Urbandale, added, "He had the most depth and most appeal of any candidate on stage."

Jeffries and Nicholl both say they are undecided as to who they will support.

This is the latest bit of good news for the Gingrich campaign that was once left for dead. Many felt Gingrich at an Iowa evangelical forum last month, and a Patch survey of shows his support among local influential Republicans just 6 percentage points behind Romney, the leader.

Meanwhile, in a juxtaposition, many in attendance had no problem ditching Iowa nice and gnarled their teeth at Romney and Cain for skipping out.

"That bothers me. They need to be here. They need to be here and make a stand in the Midwest. I am leaning towards Cain, but this bugs me. This seems like he's got better things to do," said Rich Storms, 64, an undecided voter from Altoona.

Cain and Romney missed an opportunity to sway the likes of Kyle Hauswirth, 18, a Simpson College student, who is trying to decide between the two.

"The two candidates I'm looking at the most are Cain and Romney," Hauswirth said. "My mind's not 100 percent made up. I feel as if they are getting kind of complacent and too confident by not coming to the dinner in Iowa."

Grant Menke, 32, of Ankeny, added, "I think they are really missing an opportunity. The Iowa caucus is up in the air because so many people are undecided, and for them to forfeit this chance to speak to this many likely Iowa caucus goers is a mistake. It just baffles me."

Ashlee Kieler of Johnston Patch and Megan VerHelst of Ankeny Patch contributed to this report.