Unfortunately in election sound bites nuance is lost. Ads will portray a million times over the WSJ headline. Perception often times defines reality in politics. Don’t get me wrong. I like much of what Gingrich says and stands for but with this kind of baggage to explain away coupled with his lack of telegenic appeal he is as close as you can get to being unelectable. The likely remaining prospects are now Perry and Santorum. That’s the reality. Gingrich is of course not done. He is leading in S. Carolina, Florida, and Ohio. But as in Iowa we have a fickle primary electorate. These leads are ephemeral and is no true indicator on how all this would pan out.
Voting for telegenic candidates is what got us Obama. I think good looks are much less a factor than the ability to communicate, which Newt has and which was really Obama’s most electable asset.
The reality is the individual mandate is far from the biggest problem with that 2,000 page bill. It’s received somewhat unwarranted attention because it’s virtually the only piece that anyone could conceive of posing a court challenge on, other than some of the Medicaid stuff which no one understands. There is plenty more for our candidates to campaign against in that bill.
The issue of Newt approving of the mandate has already come up in the debates so this isn’t new. At worst Romney, Newt and Obama are “tied” on that issue. I would think Romney having actually passed it vs. Newt just talking about it makes him more vulnerable on it. The only other candidate who has an outside chance at the nomination is Perry, who has serious deficiencies on the communication side of things and a lot of potential negatives in his record that have not been examined yet.