The newt republic: Gingrich's ideas were feisty and combative, but ultimately as nihilistic as they were visionary.

• Author: Crowley, Michael

The Enduring Revolution: How the Contract with America Continues to Shape the Nation

By Major Garrett

Crown, $25.95

Last Sept. 22, nearly 205 Democratic members of the House of Representatives assembled on the capitol steps to proclaim their basic values. With the 2004 election coming up, voters seemed unsure of just what Democrats stood for. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi decided it was time for a statement of principles and priorities on which Democratic House candidates everywhere could campaign. Marketing consultants were summoned from New York, California, and Boston to help Pelosi's staff craft the document. It was long and painstaking work, conducted under tight secrecy: Pelosi even barred staffers from taking notes or using Blackberries during meetings. Finally, on that September day, Democrats gathered to unveil the final product: "The New Partnership for America's Future," a D-page document listing dozens of Democratic priorities from better health care to higher wages to stronger national security.

Cue the sound of crickets chirping. You never heard of the New Partnership, you say? That's no surprise. It was almost completely ignored. None of the major television networks covered its unveiling. The Washington Post only mentioned it in passing, while The New York Times ignored it completely. Not even Democratic candidates seemed to pay it much attention. "Nobody used it," a senior House Democratic aide recently groused to me.

The embarrassment was doubly acute because the New Partnership rally had such clear echoes of another event that had occurred almost precisely a decade earlier with smashingly successful results. On Sept. 27,1994, over 300 Republican House members and candidates gathered outside the Capitol to unveil the "Contract with America" It was a promise, signed by every single GOP candidate, pledging that if the then-minority Republicans won control of the House, they would hold votes on 10 specific priorities, including tax cuts, missile defense, welfare reform, and term limits. The Contract was a hit, earning front-page coverage in the Times and the Post and defining an election campaign in which Republicans would pick up 54 seats and win a House majority for the first time in 40 years. (Last fall, by contrast, House Democrats lost 2 seats.)

Although the historical parallels are imperfect, the difference between the two events neatly symbolizes the dilemma faced by today's House Democrats. After spending 10...