Posted on 02/02/2012 6:16:34 PM PST by fightinJAG
Newt Gingrich had a bad night Tuesday: After framing the Florida primary as the "tea party versus the cocktail party," he lost among tea party supporters, according to the exit polls that cable and broadcast networks sponsor as a consortium.
On the other hand, Mitt Romney had a great evening, rising from a nine-point deficit in the Rasmussen poll just nine days ago to a 14-point victory, sweeping virtually every demographic and picking up all 50 Florida delegates.
This was an important inflection point, but the contest won't end until one candidate starts consistently winning. . . .
Mr. Romney's campaign has an estimated $20 million to spend while that of Mr. Gingrich has roughly $1 million. The Romney super PAC purportedly has more than $12 million while the Gingrich super PAC by my estimate might have around $4 million in its coffers. This disparity could prove decisive, and the Romney campaign will be tempted to simply rely on firepower and organization to bull through the calendar.
[snip]
There's no reason he can't, or shouldn't do so. While Mr. Gingrich called Congressman Paul Ryan's entitlement reforms "right-wing social engineering," Mr. Romney complimented them last November. He can refresh that speech and give it again. He can also build on his best moments in recent debates, when he unapologetically and passionately defended free enterprise. Far better to best Mr. Gingrich in the weeks ahead by taking the fight to President Obama, challenging the incumbent's unpleasant attempt to appeal to envy and resentment.
If he does these things, Mr. Romney will improve his chances of consolidating Republicans and winning the nomination battle earlier and in better shape for the fall. If not, the GOP contest will go on, the bitterness will linger, and the road ahead could be treacherous.
(Excerpt) Read more at rove.com ...
How in the world does Newt have only $1 million?
I haven’t seen any money bombs or requests for support. Guess I’m comparing to Cain, lots of people were soliciting donations when he went to the top. If Newt’s going to be our guy, we really need to start working for him and sooner rather than later.
Newt Gingrich needs money!
That’s my point: why is he seemingly unable to raise it except from that casino magnate?
I’m afraid that says something about the depth of support he enjoys.
Romney is self financed to a large degree.
Newt’s my horse in this race and dog in this hunt! I have bet $85 bucks on him to win, none for Romney to place and none for Rick to show.
Betting on a winner!
Newt inspires us and just check my tagline to see how I feel about the sleaze-master. Mittens is a juvenile punk who will go Benedict Arnold on us if elected.
GO NEWT!
Another thing... Romney called Paul Ryan “Extreme” in the past as well. That is being ignored.
Newt's latest filings, according to reports, show:
The report shows that the former House speaker’s campaign raised $9.8 million in the last three months of the year, but that it spent almost that much — $8.1 million — and finished the year with $2.1 million in the bank and $1.2 million in debt.
Gingrich’s year-end fundraising is expected to be dwarfed by that of rival Mitt Romney, who has yet to file his fourth quarter FEC report. But Gingrich’s campaign, which got new life after his strong win in the South Carolina primary, said its fundraising has surged in January, announcing it had pulled in $5 million this month.
In the fourth quarter, the campaign invested in fundraising, spending $978,000 on direct mail and Internet fundraising, and it hired more staff, paying $279,000 in salaries, and opened more offices, paying $124,000 in rent.
Still, even as the campaign professionalized, it continued to lean on the network of companies and non-profits Gingrich built after leaving Congress.
For instance, it paid $67,000 for web hosting to Gingrich Productions, which had previously received payments for web development totaling $8,400.
The campaign also paid Gingrich himself $47,000 for a list of supporters, plus another $206,000 for travel.
It’s not unusual for for campaigns to pay rent or buy lists from political committees or non-profits affiliated with the candidate, and it’s fairly common for campaigns to reimburse staffers for travel or other expenses.
But it’s unusual for a presidential candidate personally to be paid significant amounts for travel or lists — both because candidates can contribute an unlimited amount in cash or services to their own campaigns and because campaigns typically foot travel costs directly. And the Gingrich campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the payments.
*** end excerpt ***
And Gingrich has spent a lot of campaign time selling books, DVDs, and helping Callista sell her children's book -- even sitting with a man in an elephant costume while everybody else was frantically doing last-minute campaigning in Iowa [one example] -- WHAT. He wails about being outspent, but what is he doing to raise money?
Not really according to REC filings. He has a ton of big donors on Wall Street. This article was posted yesterday I think. Near the end it shows that Newt is reliant on the casino owner and his family.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46216901
Sorry...FEC Filings...
Those donors are likely “tapped out”. I bet that the first quarter FEC filings will indicate that Romney self financed to a large degree.
I can’t read stuff like this...
I donated yesterday to Newt. It's a shame that more people are not donating.
Freepers are highly tuned to the problems facing our Republic.
Sadly, the vast majority of people are politically lazy and just "trust" the MSM and FAUX news to point them to the "best" choices: Obama and Mitt.
It's going to be a very tough road to defeat Mitt. I have been praying everyday for Newt to reach more people. We have to stay positive.
Newt is my horse too and I’m all in for the long haul.
I wish I had more money to send to him right now.
GO NEWT!!!
God bless you, dear bondserv!!!
I sent $100 to him and I hope to have another $100 later this month.
I sure wish I had more because I would send it to him.
He my prayers!
Stay strong Newt Gingrich!
Even if true (and I don’t think so), that doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that Gingrich has neither attracted donations sufficiently to demonstrate committment to his candidacy, nor managed the funds he has raised well.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) called for an immediate repeal of President Obama's healthcare law but would reinstate "a little over 10 percent" of it.
He made the remarks on Thursday in Iowa, when he introduced a new version of his "Contract with America."
I don't think that creates a big enough difference between Gingrich and Romney's approach to the "repeal" of Obamacare to make that an "exciting" basis for Gingrich fundraising.
The fact that Gingrich called Ryan’s plan extreme, basically, is being equally ignored.
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