Last night former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich did his best to rally his troops with an illustration that he said he saw as a parallel to the situation of Republicans in the state of Maryland.

He spoke of his first unsuccessful run for a congressional seat in Georgia's 6th district in 1974, a year that, due to Watergate, was generally bad for Republicans. The state also had been bad for Republicans for decades, but in that year Gingrich managed to garner 48 percent of the vote against incumbent Jack Flynt.

"I said at the beginning of that campaign, I will concede my opponent his immediate family," Gingrich said. "I...