In my two days back from the campaign trail on Capitol Hill this week, there was only one thing that my colleagues wanted to ask me about - can Newt Gingrich really win the Republican nomination?
The idea of Gingrich winning had been ridiculed for months in the halls of Congress, as veteran lawmakers in both parties said Gingrich's time in the House proved that he was not fit for the job.
I remember asking Sen. Lindsey Graham about Gingrich this past summer; Graham laughed at my question.
Graham might not have been laughing last weekend when his state of South Carolina gave Gingrich an easy victory.
Gingrich can't really win, can he?
Those reporters who arrived on Capitol Hill after Gingrich left the Congress in late 1998 don't really have the working memory of Gingrich to understand why so many can't believe what's happening.
There's no way Gingrich can win, right?
When I started covering Gingrich in the 1980's for WSB Radio in Atlanta, Gingrich was already well-known for stirring up trouble, as he had just taken out House Speaker Jim Wright.
There was never a dull moment, as Gingrich was a never-ending source of news and controversy; he was the proverbial bull in the Congressional China Shop, even knocking over stuff on the GOP side of the aisle.
So that history makes his sudden rise in the Republican Presidential race all the more interesting to those who walked the halls of the Capitol when Gingrich was a hot Congressional Commodity.
"Is it really happening?" one of my veteran colleagues asked me in disbelief around midnight after the State of the Union Address.
My answer is the same on and off the radio - I covered Gingrich for many years and always saw him achieve stuff that most people said could never happen.
It wasn't always pretty, but there aren't style points in politics.
He couldn't force out a sitting Speaker of the House for ethical misdeeds. But it happened.
Gingrich never could win a GOP leadership race in the House. But he did.
The Contract With America was just a hokey election joke. But it wasn't.
Gingrich could never lead the GOP to the majority and become Speaker. But he did.
I covered all of those stories. It was a crazy time to be a reporter on Capitol Hill. There were big "ups" for Gingrich - and big "downs" as well.
So, just as it was wrong to count him out back in the summer when his campaign was on the verge of collapse - Gingrich can't be counted out now.
"We won because the people are sick and tired of the national establishment telling them what they are allowed to think and believe," Gingrich said in an e-mail to supporters this week.
"Make no mistake, this is a battle between the conservative grassroots and the moderate establishment for the heart and soul of the Republican Party," Gingrich added.
It was vintage Gingrich, who always seemed to cast basic legislative tussles as historic engagements.
In many ways, Gingrich in his prime was the enfant terrible of his party, a backbencher who lobbed ethics charges, attacked Democrats at every turn and energized a political party that had been in the minority in the House of Representatives for decades.
But he also aggravated the living hell out of many in his own party - just look at how many lawmakers are savaging Gingrich at the behest of the Romney camp.
When Gingrich ran for House GOP Whip in 1989, he defeated the establishment candidate, Ed Madigan of Illinois. Gingrich was such an outsider that at the news conference announcing his victory, House GOP Leader Bob Michel referred to Newt as "Nit," drawing laughs from reporters and Gingrich, too.
The next year, Gingrich helped torpedo a budget deal worked out by the Bush White House with Democrats in the Congress.
The White House and top Republicans were furious with Gingrich, angered that he refused to be a team player.
But Gingrich refused to yield to the establishment, even as he became the establishment, ultimately ascending to the job of Speaker, which he held for just under four years.
And in the wake of his win in South Carolina, the questions just kept coming in the hallways around the Capitol.
"Can Gingrich really win in Florida?"
Just after having one of those conversations, C-SPAN 2 was showing Bill Clinton giving his 1996 State of the Union Address.
And who was that sitting behind Clinton? None other than Newt Gingrich.
The guy that was never supposed to be Speaker of the House.
Now in Florida, Gingrich again has the opportunity to turn conventional political wisdom on its ear.
My conclusion is pretty basic - don't be surprised if he does.
I've already seen him do a lot of things he supposedly had no chance to do.
We'll see what happens in this episode next Tuesday night.
In the meantime, I'm just along for the ride again, shaking my head at the thought that I am covering Gingrich for a fourth decade.
"There's no way he can win, right?"
Stay tuned.
