Is Newt Gingrich the "stick"?

There was an episode of "King of the Hill" in which Bobby Hill joined the track team. For those of you not familiar with the show, Bobby Hill is an obese adolescent. The kid is obviously not an athlete. But the coach had a role for the boy. Bobby Hill was the "stick". Whenever one of the stars of the team was caught doing an offense such as smoking or missing practice, the coach would sub in Bobby Hill for that player. This would cause the team to lose. Since no student athlete wants to be replaced by a fat kid, this motivated the track team members to clean up their act and they started winning more track meets.

I wonder if Gingrich is a "stick" meant to punished the GOP rank and file for not lining up behind Romney.