ASK A PURITAN:

While addressing a hotel ballroom full of his forlorn supporters in the Radisson's Center of New Hampshire here, the former House speaker praised a new Granite State budget procedure that is so commonsensical, it is startling that it deserves applause.

The New Hampshire State House of Representatives, "actually had the Ways and Means Committee report first," Gingrich explained in his election-night remarks. "It indicated how much money they would have, and they then actually adopted a budget to fit their income, which is the opposite of every other state I know of in the country which writes a budget and then tries to go find more of your money to fill in what they think they need. The result was a very courageous and a very serious effort in which they cut 11 percent out of spending, which is a remarkable achievement. If it were accomplished in Washington, it would begin to move us back on the right track."

What a concept!

Like a new automobile model whose designers boast that it features brakes, this legislative reform is so logical, one wonders why it had to be installed in the first place.

Follow @brothersjudd