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There have been many highs and lows for the GOP presidential candidates, but political strategist Matt Dowd said this morning that the race has come down to two people.

“Now I think it’s a two person race, fascinating, between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney after all that has gone on over the summer,” Dowd, an ABC consultant, said on “GMA.”

Gingrich has more staying power than the other Republican candidates who have risen and fallen in the polls, according to Dowd.

“One, [Gingrich has] national campaign experience. Two, he’s been under the spotlight before and so knows what to do. And three, he’s done very well in all of these debates. That’s why I think he is where he is today,” he told me.

Governor Rick Perry’s latest message of reforming Washington is “pitch perfect,” according to Dowd, but too little too late. And Herman Cain’s flub on Libya hurt him, Dowd said, leaving Romney and Gingrich to fight it out.

But the former Speaker of the House has come under scrutiny for earning close to $2 million from Freddie Mac, Bloomberg News reported. Gingrich dismissed the work, saying he was hired as a “historian” and gave “strategic advice.”

Dowd had words of caution for Gingrich, telling me it is going to be difficult for the campaign to turn the Freddie Mac story into a positive.

“He’s trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear in this case,” Dowd said.

“You can’t be a sort of insider’s outsider. Right now his support is coming from the Tea Party and from very conservative voters.  And there’s a fine line between…understanding Washington and being part of Washington. If this conveys he’s part of Washington it’s a problem for those voters.”

– George Stephanopoulos

Watch the interview here: