Posted on 03/16/2012 8:06:44 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
So Newt was right. Him dropping out to "help" Santorum would backfire by boosting Romney's chances of clinching a majority of delegates before the convention.
Second look at Newt staying in the race to gratify his delusions of grandeur about being chosen as a consensus nominee at a brokered convention?
Some conservative Republicans have called for Gingrich to drop out of the race on the assumption that conservative primary voters would then unite behind Santorum as the conservative alternative to the more moderate Romney. But Gallup data indicate that Gingrich voters would not be likely to coalesce behind Santorum, suggesting that factors other than candidate ideology may be attracting voters to Gingrich, Santorum, and Romney.
Gallup can simulate Republican preferences without Gingrich in the race by removing Gingrich votes and reassigning them to his voters' second-choice candidate. The results of this procedure suggest that national GOP preferences would change little if Gingrich dropped out. The reconfigured preferences show Romney getting 40% of the vote and Santorum getting 33%. That seven-percentage-point Romney lead is essentially the same as the six-point (34% to 28%) Romney lead in March 8-15 interviewing with Gingrich support included.
Romney takes 40 percent of Newt's voters versus 39 percent for Santorum. As noted yesterday, when Fox News polled a hypothetical head to head race between Romney and Santorum a few days ago, they found Mitt leading 49/44. Has there been any poll to date showing a surge for Team Sweater Vest if Gingrich drops out? If not, then the best argument for Newt quitting isn’t that it would help stop Romney but rather that by staying in he’s needlessly impeding the coronation of a candidate who is, unfortunately, inevitable. If you want to beat Obama and think there’s no way realistically that Romney, as the leader in delegates, won’t be chosen at a brokered convention, then your best option now is to hope that the field clears ASAP so that he can concentrate on the general.
Newt, of course, is not in the “Romney is inevitable” camp:
It’s a complicated bet. But they believe that in a contested-convention scenario, and perhaps only then, the usual presidential metrics — money, momentum — will mean little, and it’ll come down to a damaged moderate versus a tested warrior.
“Newt is no shrinking violet,” says Katon Dawson, an adviser to Winning Our Future, a pro-Gingrich super PAC. “His whole life, nothing has every come easy to him. I’ve known him for many years. He’s having a good time running for president. He’s not going to end this.”
“Remember, these conventions are odd animals,” Dawson says. “If nobody gets this thing on the first ballot, all hell will start breaking loose. If you start to think about who wins debates, and then think about Gingrich getting up there, in that moment, talking about his life and why he should be president of the United States, you can see it.”
Explain to me why the guy who finishes a distant third would ever be considered as a compromise choice at a brokered convention. The only argument I can see is if you had someone who looked extremely electable against Obama compared to the top two vote-getters. Imagine Pawlenty, say, in Newt’s position here; moderates in Romney’s camp and social cons in Santorum’s camp might see him as an acceptable alternative given that he’s sufficiently bland to turn the general election into a pure referendum on Obama. Needless to say, that’s not what we have in Gingrich:
The numbers for all three are lame compared to McCain’s(!) but if enthusiasm is the name of the game — and it would be after a brokered convention that threatened to shatter the party — then the third-place candidate here is your last choice, not your first. In fact, these numbers are tepid enough that if the primary drags on and enthusiasm for all three sinks accordingly, it makes the possibility of a dark-horse nominee marginally higher. How much worse could a Christie or Ryan do here compared to the rest?
Exit question via the Atlantic: Has Romney run a bad campaign? I honestly don’t know how to answer it. On the one hand, he’s got the best organization and the best fundraising by a country mile. On the other hand, he’s facing two has-beens running barebones operations and is still struggling to win. On the other other hand, it’s astounding that a candidate as widely disliked and distrusted by the base as Romney has the pole position on the nomination. He’s actually done better than McCain in a majority of the primaries held so far. The only reason he’s off the pace in terms of delegates is because, as Jay Cost explains, the GOP delegate calendar was frontloaded in 2008 (replete with some early winner-take-all states) whereas this year it’s a slower, steadier distribution. To borrow a March Madness analogy, if a three seed plays a ten seed in the Final Four, leads wire to wire, and ends up winning by, say, five points, did they play a “good game”? Granted, they didn’t have to play Duke and they shouldn’t have had to sweat for the win, but they got it done under pressure.
Newt/Sarah...
There you go.
PROOF.
Newt stays in to hold his delegates FOR Santorum, but Rick is such a freshman he doesn’t even see it.
He will, once he’s mortally wounded politically by Romney.
Romney is so unafraid of Santorum he is NOT even bothering to give Rick the Newt treatment.
One more neon sign that the ONLY man EVERYONE fears (on both sides of the aisle) is and shall remain to be Newt Gingrich.
Still say Rick will again step on his tongue before he ever gets to JUNE.
Wonder what the numbers would look like if Gingrich dropped out and SUPPORTED Santorum and Santorum CHOSE Gingrich as his Vice Presidential running mate.
Newt/Sarah...or bust.
Would they switch to Romney because of common political beliefs, or simply to spite Santorum?
Newt could very well decide to do the same. At worst, it will guarantee him a prime time speaking slot, even if he doesn't win another state. Which, at this point, looks like a very real possibility.
Let me assure you that Newt had some Jewish support, and certainly other moderates came in with no notice of Rick Santorum whatsoever, but in the role of lavatory man for the GOP-E. A run of the mill pol. Unspectacular.
They actually want to beat Obama in November, and they get the larger picture on who can do that, if they can’t have Newt. The clerical platform was one they were never on in the first place.
Newt holds whom he can among his PLEDGED delegates for the sake of the frat snot. Does anyone say “thank you”? Nada.
“His whole life, nothing has every come easy to him”...except women.
This indicates that if both Santorum and Gingrich stay in the race, there’s an improved chance of denying Romney a majority of the delegates at the convention. Interesting.
That is the very thing that surprised me the most here. I always thought that Newt supporters had wisdom. But at least 40 percent of them lack knowledge or are liberals. Someone earlier tried to tell me that the Newt supporters went for Romney was because of his business background. So I guess either they don’t know about Mitt’s socialist background or they don’t care.
There was a thread earlier about a college kid who called himself fiscally conservative and socially liberal. He wasn’t too happy with the Second Amendment RKBA and wanted gun control laws. That is the odd thing with some “fiscals,” all they seem to care about is their pocketbooks. It is as if they can drop any portion of conservatism at any time and hop right into bed with the nearest liberal idea. It would seem some have difficulty grasping the fact that if you abandon any part of conservatism, and especially social conservatism, you start down the road to socialism. It all falls apart because the principles are interrelated. The very foundation of our freedom is a moral people.
The Founding Fathers knew this well.
John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Even Ben Franklin who was not a religious person knew it well: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
“Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement thereof.”
George Washington: “Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.”
It seems that a civil society in our country is a thing of the past.
It just amazes me that 40 percent of Newt’s people don’t care that Romney is a cardboard empty suit, without principles and has no problem with abortions for $50.00 or even free, gun rights being removed and socialized medicine taking over our country. Their priority is the money.
It looks like we have already lost.
...what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26b
I believe Newt Gingrich understands this or he would have quit long ago. It’s just a shame so many of his people have a hard time grasping this.
Looks like we may have a lot of Closet Romney Supporters Here.
Now I know why they want Newt to stay in. It helps their real agenda. To Help Romney.
Don’t buy it for one second. A Newt withdrawal would give Rick a clean shot against the liberal Mitt. Every poll I’ve seen with Newt not considered has shown a significant bump for Santorum.
Oh really. Then what do you call the millions spent attacking Rick in every state by Milt and his white shirted followers?
Watch the Dhummies heads explode. I can literally see them having epileptic fits.
It will provoke so much rage they will be incapable of speech, reduced to grunting slavering animals.
In case you were unaware, the website owner endorsed Newt months ago. I’m not sure he would appreciate being called a closet Romney supporter.. lol.
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