Newt Gingrich urges rivals to drop out

http://harndenblog.dailymail.co.uk ^ | January 18, 2012 | rocky88

[rocky88]

Buoyed by his strong debate performance in Myrtle Beach, Newt Gingrich has called his rivals to drop out of the race because "consolidating into a Gingrich candidacy" would "virtually guarantee victory" in the South Carolina primary and stop Mitt Romney becoming the Republican nominee.

Making the case to a crowd of almost 200 in an art gallery in the old railroad junction town of Florence, South Carolina he said: "If you look at the polling, I’m the only conservative who realistically has a chance to be the nominee.

[Grunthor]

“Who appointed pro-amnesty Gingrich as the lead conservative?”

Every poll in recent days did. Newt did not say that he is the “most conservative” but that he is the conservative with a chance to beat Romney and he bases that opinion on his poll standings.

But then, you probably knew that.

[Future Useless Eater]

* Before Monday's debate, Mitt was losing ground, and his debate performance was weak / below average
* Before Monday's debate, Newt was GAINING ground, and his debate performance was fantastic
* Rick Perry gained into upper single-digits but his debate performance was mediocre
* Rick Santorum was losing ground rapidly, AND his debate performance was mediocre
* Jon Huntsman's support was ONLY 1% in the latest poll, and that support won't ALL go to Romney so don't sweat him

SC voters: If you liked Rick or Rick, THINK ABOUT THIS before voting....

Each congressional district will have 2 delegates given to the winner-take-all within the district (that's 14 delegates total)

And Statewide, there will be 11 delegates given to the winner-take-all at the state level

So let's assume Romney is still barely in 1st place in the polls just before the vote.
Let's assume there is only ONE close NON-Romney in 2nd place (Newt).

Maybe YOU would prefer Rick or Rick....

But, IF YOU Vote for Rick or Rick, you have most likely helped award ALL delegates TO ROMNEY because it is WINNER TAKE ALL!!!!

The ONLY way to NOT hand your delegates to ROMNEY is to consolidate all conservative votes behind the LEADING NON-ROMNEY

[RitaOK]

” But the type of people that go this far in a presidential election campaign (Newt included) are not “quitters”. “ <<<

I’m afraid you’re right about that. It is up to the supporters to back off sharply, but since conservatives can’t do math and odds, Romney may pull it off South in Carolina. However, it was time for the master to speak on the subject and I am glad he did. He was talking, IMHO, to the bundlers and financeirs as much as the supporters, to ALL wake up and do the math and the odds in South Carolina, or else, while at the same time to hold the margin of a Romney victory down to a manageable one, for even going on to Florida.

Hell to pay for Santorum/Perry supporters if they should cost Newt South Carolina as the polls will catch up to his break out from the debate “get” Monday night. Thursday’s CNN debate seals it, IF, the moderators even bother to include Newt in the debate. They will be promoting disunity, Santorum, and Romney of course.

[Future Useless Eater]

[RitaOK]

However, winner-takes-all states do not come into play until March. Correct?

[LuvFreeRepublic]

BINGO. Newt is the only one who can win the argument against Obama and do it EXTREMELY well.

This is a preview of the turkey we will be watching if we ALL don't get behind Newt NOW.

http://www.winningourfuture.com/

[LibsRJerks]

Well, perhaps Newt saying this publicly will allow him to go back and say “I told you so,” when the SC voters drive us all over the cliff and vote in Romney.

Really, can you just imagine Romney on the stage against Obama. He will be nervous, dithering, stiff, awkward looking ...they’ll toss him zinger after zinger prepared by a sympathetic lib media ...it will be HIDEOUS and embarrassing to watch.

Really — is THIS what we have to look forward to, S. Carolina???

[trisham]

Newt is right.

[ontap]

Like it or not Newt has displayed an unbelievable ability after all the negative ads in Iowa to take a punch and come back swinging. He has the best chance(probably the only chance) to beat Romney in SC. After his spectacular debate he is almost certain to come up in the polls!

[cripplecreek]

No kidding. It does nothing but irritate me.

[kabar]

Newt supports or has supported amnesty, the proposition that there is manmade global warming and that the government should address it urgently, the individual mandate for health care, the prescription drug program, and a host of other big government programs.

He is the only sitting Speaker ever to be given a reprimand and a financial penalty. This was in a Re--controlled House where 85% of the Reps voted for the reprimand and a $300,000 penalty.

Gingrich is thrice married with two messy divorces where he admitted to adultry. He has changed religions three times.

How conservative is Gingrich and can he win with so much baggage, professional and personal?

[Elle Bee]

At this point Santorum is only in the race so that he can get several cable news 'contributor' gigs on cable tv

Much the same way Herman Cain had from the beginning

We've just cast our early ballots for Newt here in Florida

.

[ohioWfan]

Rick Santorum rightly asked Hannity yesterday, why should Newt ask him (Rick) to drop out when he had beaten Newt in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

While I definitely think it's past time for Paul and Perry to drop out (Paul because he's a joke, and Perry because he hasn't done well), I think it is completely wrong for Newt to ask others to drop out.......especially Santorum.

[RasterMaster]

Newt chose to take a loveseat with Natzi Pelosi, kiss Hitlery’s enlarged backside, and give race-baiting poverty pimp credibility on his “education tour”....that’s just as bad as having Teddy Kennedy write the education bill. He expects us to dismiss his LIEberal record as “mistakes”.

Newt is a loser who wasn’t able to gain much traction from Iowa or New Hampshire so he decided to pull an Obama and try to drive out the competition so our choices are limited and he’s the lesser of two evils??? How easily people sell their souls for the “win”. To hell with that.

[jakerobins]

Your right about that....anyone seeking high office isn’t a quitter and will pull out all the stops. But Newt is off base in my mind because he hasn’t finished in the top three yet but he’s calling for everyone else to drop out??

Any of the people would win if the base would Consolidate behind them....If Perry and Newt dropped out of course Santourum would be a lock. But at this stage and SC being an important state all will stay in splitting the votes and Romney of course will come out on top. The media will crown Romney the winner of the whole thing. Sickening....We are on our way to another Obama term folks

[LuvFreeRepublic]

Do you really think if the negative ads were directed at Rick and not Newt, that Rick would have done as well as he did?

Santorum. nice as he may be, will not beat Romney and will not beat Obama.

[Future Useless Eater]

However, winner-takes-all states do not come into play until March. Correct?

No. Winner-Take-ALL applies in SC, exactly as I described.
A vote for either Rick ensures ROMNEY wins ALL delegates.

http://frontloading.blogspot.com/2012/01/follow-up-on-south-carolina-republican.html

[RC one]

He’s also absolutely correct. He is our best hope to avoid a Romney candidacy. Rick, Rick, and Ron need to bow out if they are any kind of conservatives. If they don’t, it’s clear who they are endorsing in this race and it ain’t the conservative.

[kabar]

Polls aren't votes. Santorum came in second or perhaps even first in Iowa. Newt was fifth. In NH, they were virtually tied for fourth place.

Newt is a great debater but a poor campaigner who failed to get a good ground game together. He missed the ballots in VA and Missouri. He has never even run a statewide campaign let alone a national one. Before he starts asking everyone else to clear the field for him, let's see him win SC first.

[rocky88]

Yes, I believe Newt can overcome his baggage. There was a caller on Rush yesterday with an interesting statement on that:

“Newt has a lot of baggage, but we know what his baggage is. Obama has a lot of baggage but we’re not allowed to look in his suitcase.”

All Newt has to do is remind the media of this over and over, and methinks they will drop the baggage subject...