The long, painful season of debates among the Republican presidential candidates has now brought us to winter, if we are to judge by the snow outside. And what a dismal time it has been. Are we any wiser for the shrunken rhetoric, faulty history, ridiculous economics and painful posturing? Doubtful. The seven dwarves have little to offer, and many of their supporters are lukewarm at best.

Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, seems temporarily to be in the lead, but he has only risen to the top because Herman Cain, the pizza king who only a few weeks ago appeared to be the main challenger to acknowledged front-runner Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has finally fallen from grace. Cain announced last week that he was "reassessing" his campaign after an Atlanta woman claimed she had a 13-year affair with him. This followed accusations of questionable behavior with several other women. Cain said last week "they're attacking my character, my reputation and my name in order to try and bring me down, but you see, I don't believe that America is going to let that happen." Alas for Cain, that is exactly what America did. It was too much for Cain, who announced on Saturday that he was suspending his campaign. It was a bitter pill to swallow for a man who appeared to be so decisive and yet so insouciant about matters of great national importance, and whose campaign was more of a self-promoting book tour than a genuine run for high office. Many observers believe his campaign is over, not suspended.

Gingrich has risen like a phoenix after his near political death this past summer, so the man deserves a lot of credit. His performance in the debates was undoubtedly the best among the seven, but given the competition, that's not saying too much for the history professor and old Washington hand. He is no outsider, if that's what conservatives are looking for. In fact, given his long years in Washington as a member of the House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, and later as a lobbyist, (and that's what he is despite his claims to the contrary) he is the ultimate insider.

The main problem for Gingrich, and it may yet come back to haunt him, is an excessive confidence that leads him to make bad mistakes. He is very bright, but perhaps not as bright as he seems to think he is. The other problem is his past and public history as an adulterer, especially carrying on an affair while his first wife was dying of cancer. This and other affairs will resurface with a vengeance, and religious conservatives will find that difficult to forgive.

Nevertheless, so desperate is the Republican base in its search for the candidate who can beat President Barack Obama that they have turned, if only temporarily, to that old warhorse, Newt Gingrich. They do so because of their urgent desire to have a winner, an "outsider" who can speak plainly and truthfully to a dysfunctional Washington. That led them first to Texas Governor Rick Perry, then to Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, then to Cain and now to Gingrich. The irony, of course, is that Gingrich is anything but an outsider despite his attempts to paint himself as one. Gingrich has a number of assets, perhaps the strongest of which, according to Mark McKinnon, a Republican strategist quoted in the Financial Times, is that "He is perceived as strong, which is what voters value more than anything in a candidate for president. And Romney is the epitome of caution."

Liberal Democrats, of course, are hoping that Gingrich actually wins the nomination, because Gingrich's record of self-implosion will only cinch the election for Obama. That is much too optimistic and borders on the starry-eyed. The fact is if Gingrich could contain himself, he could be a formidable candidate. But history suggests otherwise, and Democrats are pinning their hopes on history. That's another irony because Gingrich is, of course, a history professor who sees himself as something of a prophet whose time has come.

In the meantime, the Republican presidential nomination is fast becoming a two-man race between Gingrich and Romney, with Romney growing increasingly agitated at his inability to gain traction among conservative Republican voters. And yet, at the end of the day, he is still the candidate to beat.