I doubt it, its possible Newt could collapse, but I don’t see anyone left to take his place.. Who’s left?
Newt came out of the gate very shakey, and showed a lot of rust in the early debates and days of his campaign, but he quickly shook it off. Now could he lose his temper or something and collapse? Its possible, but honestly who’s left?
Running out of time to bounce to someone else, and who else is it going to be? Santorum? I don’t think so.
Could it happen? Sure.. will it happen? Probably not. Newt isn’t Cain.. he isn’t the result of folks PROJECTING on him, his faults are well known and vetted... he wasn’t just someone with no political past saying things folks wanted to hear, but clearly was not remotely capable of handling a campaign... He’s not a bitter nut like Bachmann, and he’s not going to flub in debates like Perry.
Newt, like him or not, has been running a smart campaign, he’s focused on OBAMA, not attacking other R’s... he’s said WHAT WILL I DO vs What OBAMA HAS DONE... and while I am sure when it boils down to a head to head race it might get a bit more cantancorous, he’s focusing on the right message.
Yes, Newt can be his own worse enemy sometimes, but I don’t see him completely collapsing, because unlike the other’s he knows what he is doing.
Anything is possible, but I don’t think you will see Newt collapse, folks who come to Newt already know his past, they may not like it, but have come to accept it.. he isn’t being propped up by folks projecting stuff onto him, or simply because he says what people want to hear.
If Newt Collapses, I think honestly you are looking at Romney as the Nominee.. I don’t think anyone left in the field is going to have any legitimate chance of building up anything in time, and folks who have bounced 3 - 4 times already are going to start to coalesque around Romney, at least some of them.
Time will tell what happens, but I just don’t see anyone else viable beyond Newt and Romney (By Viable I mean can win the nomination, be able to realistically win the general, AND be able to actually do the job, haven’t since day one. (Perry was worth a consideration, but his horrific debate performaces showed he will never be able to win a general election). I personally am quite suprised that Newt has made the comeback he has, when he first announced I wrote him off, but I hadn’t seen how poor the rest of the 2012 class was...
I honestly figured the Tea Party Bloc would have shown a little more wisdom and picked to back someone a bit more viable in the early days, though not able to win the nomination, perhaps, and shot for a VP slot.. maybe coalesque and stay with someone like a Santorum, who cannot win the nomination or a general, but would be a realtively safe conservative to push their views, and maybe on the outside wind up with a VP slot on a ticket.. instead they kept overplaying their hands trying to make second and third stringers the P nominee.
Time will tell what happens...but I see it as Newt V Romney, and since the Tea Party spent its wad pushing someone who clearly wasn’t remotely ready for prime time in Cain, they spent their wad on nothing instead of maybe getting a VP or something else out of their efforts.