The return of Newt Skywalker

Some of Newt Gingrich’s futuristic predictions were — and still are — far out.

Mitt Romney pointed to one of Gingrich’s Jetsonian ideas to underscore their differences: “We can start with his idea to have a lunar colony that would mine minerals from the moon.” Gingrich earned the Star Wars-era nickname in the 1980s and '90s — back when his high-tech, futuristic proselytizing landed his face, bathed in electric lime, on the cover of Wired. He was often compared to Al Gore as an Internet evangelist; he enlisted Alvin Toffler, author of "Future Shock," as his tech adviser; and he held conferences through a think tank with the likes of John Perry Barlow and Esther Dyson. Gingrich is still seen by some as a visionary on tech issues. Those geek credentials may help in his assault on Romney, who so far has cornered the market on key Republican names in Silicon Valley — such as HP CEO Meg Whitman and Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy.