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Newt: I won’t exit the race until Mitt Romney hits 1,144
Hotair ^ | 03/26/2012 | Tine Korbe

Posted on 03/26/2012 5:16:43 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Newt Gingrich confirms with this statement what everybody already knew: His purpose in the race at this point is less to secure the nomination himself (or even to spearhead a movement, like Ron Paul) than to thwart Mitt Romney. Same ol’ story:

Gingrich told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he won’t get out of the race until former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) – who Gingrich described as “the weakest frontrunner in modern times” — secures the 1,144 delegates necessary to clinch the GOP nomination.

“I think the morning that he gets 1,144 that are locked down, then I think he can claim to be the nominee,” Gingrich said. …

“Obviously, if (Romney) becomes the nominee, I will support him. . . . If he doesn’t win the nomination, then it’s going to be wide open and then we’re going to have a conversation for those 60 days,” he said, referring to the length of time between the last nominating contest in June and the national convention in August.

Asked about Santorum’s viability in the race, Gingrich responded that “he doesn’t have a guaranteed lock any more than I do or Mitt Romney does.”

Is it even feasible to stop Romney anymore, though? The day after the Mississippi and Alabama primaries, The Examiner’s Tim Carney wrote an excellent piece that asked the question, “Can the non-Mitts improve by 17 percent?” According to the delegate math at that point, the non-Romneys had to win at least 55 percent of the remaining delegates to stop Romney from securing the nomination. As Carney pointed out, that might not sound like a lot, especially divided among three candidates — but it required them to perform better than they had up to that point. Up until March 14, the non-Romneys had won just 44 percent of the vote.

So, what has happened since then? Missouri began its caucus process — but we won’t know the exact results until June. Romney won Puerto Rico and Illinois. Rick Santorum won Louisiana. Not bad for the non-Mitts, eh? Actually, it is. Romney took 70 of 91 delegates, which means the non-Mitts took just 21 or about 23 percent of the available delegates. That’s a far cry from the 55 percent they need to capture to stop Mitt.

What whiplash I have from my own opinions about this race! One day, I want the challengers out so I can attempt to reconcile myself to Romney. The next day, like today, I sympathize with the challengers. As I wrote this morning, it is perplexing that we’ll mostly likely end this eventful primary season by selecting for ourselves a candidate who, as Rick Santorum says, is “uniquely disqualified” to hit Obama where it hurts — on Obamacare. Probably I feel that way today because, with the hearings on Capitol Hill, I’m reminded of the many weaknesses of Obamacare.

For all that I might be able to sympathize with Santorum and Gingrich on the substance of the race, the reality still is as it was: Mitt Romney will in all likelihood be the nominee.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: gingrich; newt; romney
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To: Christie at the beach
Please God keep this man going.

Keep them both going.

Gingrich can't capture enough delegates on his own to stop Romney and neither can Santorum.

I didn't believe it a couple of weeks ago, but I'm really believing now that the only shot for conservatives is a brokered convention.

And, it SURE doesn't help the anti-Romney cause for Gingrich supporters and Santorum supporters to attack each others' candidates any longer. They both need to do well enough to pull delegates from the RINO.

21 posted on 03/26/2012 6:03:27 PM PDT by Washi (Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, one head-shot at a time.)
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To: napscoordinator

I’m sure you are for Rick, can’t be Mitt. But, I want this to go to the floor.

Then Rick can accept his VP slot and line up against whoever else comes out of this.


22 posted on 03/26/2012 6:08:21 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: Kenny
I think we need to get ready for a brokered convention and pick a candidate we can all get behind. One candidate, not Sarah or Paul Ryan or whatever, a single candidate that WE want to draft. Multiple loyalties was our first mistake, don’t need to repeat it.

That'd be great, wouldn't it?

I don't know how that would happen, though. Conservatives are very independently minded by nature. I'd be extremely happy to see Sarah as the candidate, but I know others can't stand her.

23 posted on 03/26/2012 6:10:19 PM PDT by Washi (Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, one head-shot at a time.)
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To: Washi
I don't know how that would happen, though. Conservatives are very independently minded by nature. I'd be extremely happy to see Sarah as the candidate, but I know others can't stand her

Recent polls say she's more popular than any of the candidates. I think if it looked like she was going to be the nominee, people could unite behind her a lot faster than others.

But you're right, therein lies the problem. Conservatives don't march lock-step so they might never agree on one person. Anyway I just wanted to put it out there because I'm sick of sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop. Would like to be proactive in some sense.

24 posted on 03/26/2012 6:21:19 PM PDT by Kenny
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To: SeekAndFind

I guess that will be about the beginning of June.


25 posted on 03/26/2012 6:29:50 PM PDT by AlmaKing
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To: Vendome
Oh definitely NOT Romney that is for sure. Hate him even more than when this primary started. Newt is great but can't get people to vote for him...that is not good. Sanatorium is good but can't get enough votes. It is just a disasterous primary as they all seem to be for us.
26 posted on 03/26/2012 6:45:33 PM PDT by napscoordinator (A moral principled Christian with character is the frontrunner! Congrats Santorum!)
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To: napscoordinator

yep


27 posted on 03/26/2012 7:05:00 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: katiedidit1

Well said. Newt is the only candidate that is clear on his goals and as you said, Obama is scared of him as he is a very skilled debater who does not need a teleprompter to give a speech.

I have strong hopes he is our nominee at the convention!!


28 posted on 03/26/2012 7:22:30 PM PDT by YouGoTexasGirl
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To: Kenny

The uncommitted delegates are abundantly sprinkled through out all these campaigns as well as the designated delegates who remain committed.

When do the uncomitted delegates become committed? At convention.

I trust that we all are trying to BE elected delegates on the night of our state’s primary at our precinct meetings which commence at the close of the ballot.

We will have crossovers galore. But some will actually be legitimate, astounded by Obama’s Marxism.


29 posted on 03/26/2012 9:05:19 PM PDT by RitaOK (LET 'ER RIP, NEWT. Newt knows where all the bodies are buried, because he buried them.)
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To: YouGoTexasGirl

Saw Santorum yesterday as he yelled expletives at a liberal reporter.

Yes, the libs deserve it, but it was highly unpresidential-like behavior ... and what about all this sanctimonious crap? His language was terrible ...


30 posted on 03/28/2012 6:23:50 AM PDT by LibsRJerks
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