Posted on 02/08/2012 5:56:32 AM PST by Lakeshark
Interesting, and true. Gingrich won in the counties in Florida where turnout was high, but Romney won in those where it was low. The GOP’s virtual proclamation of Romney as the candidate has had a steadily depressing effect on turnout, simply because people don’t like Romney but they also don’t like to bother voting if they think it’s already a done deal.
I don’t think these wins will have a big impact on Santorum’s chances (for one thing, two of them are non-binding and Newt wasn’t in the other one), but I think it’s the firmest statement so far that people don’t want Romney. Gingrich wasn’t expected to win in either of them, but Romney was. However, it seems that even the sort of middle of the roader semi-RINO type voters that probably populate some of these areas don’t want him.
Romney is creepy and mean and ruthless, and I think the more people see of him, the less they like him. I hope they see him not at all in the future and we can really get into picking a candidate.
The vicious Romney/GOP-e/Media slime assault against Gingrich in Florida has obviously alienated many, many conservatives. You reap what you so, Mittens....
the establishment are so stupid and so desperate for their elitist north east establishment guy that they cannot even see how America is anymore.
If backed a guy who is a conservative instead of elitist northeast RINO Romney then they would know moderates agree on stopping the homosexual agenda,cross dressing agenda, they would know that the average person does not relate to Romney, they would know the north east and the beltway is not America
but more to the point, they would know that Romney is turning voters off, the man has been running for years and his numbers are down from last time, the voters are not coming out and we don’t have a candidate where the average voter is excited about.
Instead the establishment has attacked the likes of Sarah, ignored Allen West, those kind of people bring life and excitement not boring old elitist men from the beltway or the north east
I don’t think Gingrich and Santorum are likely to team up. Remember, it was actually Santorum who launched the first personal attack ads in Iowa, and Santorum has kept launching whatever attack ads (attacking Gingrich) his budget permits.
Also, Gingrich and Santorum are far apart on spending and big government issues, with Santorum being very close to the GOP establishment positions in virtually everything except the pro-life area, where he is more conservative than the GOP e. In fact, probably the only position he and Gingrich share is a strong pro-life position, and beyond that, they’re very different. So I don’t see any alliance there!
Here are the turnout numbers for 2008 and 2012. If you discount Missouri, overall turnout is down 4.7%. Florida was the massive turning point in popularity of the primary. It had a MASSIVE increase in turnout. Starting in Florida, turnout took a huge nose dive, and just got worse in Nevada and Minnesota, although Colorado was much better than those. It looks like people got massively excited about Newt, than Mitt destroyed Newt, and after a couple states people realized Santorum was the best available replacement for Newt.
2008 - 2012
119,188 - 122,255 - IA (up 2.6%)
239,315 - 248,448 - NH (up 3.8%)
445,677 - 603,856 - SC (up 35.5%)
1,949,498 - 1,672,352 - FL (down 14.2%)
44,324 - 32,894 - NV (down 25.9%)
588,926 - 251,868 - MO (down 57.2%)
70,229 - 65,479 - CO (down 6.8%)
62,837 - 47,836 (95% in) - MN (down 23.9%)
3,519,994 - 3,044,988 (down 13.5%)
2,931,068 - 2,793,120 (down 4.7% without MO)
Ann Coulter at CPAC 2011 - Question & Answer Session - 2/12/11
Approx. the 10:00 mark.
Santorum’s already said in a debate a couple months ago that he would consider Newt as a V.P., I think back when Newt’s debate surge was first starting. I’m sure the establishment will try hard to stop that eventually if Santorum keeps going, probably make him a deal to support him as long as he doesn’t pick Newt.
The one the establishment is really scared of is Gingrich, because he actually would make changes in DC. Santorum won’t, so I suspect that the GOP e will probably support him if Romney looks like he’s not going to make it (and it’s still early and Santorum still does not have a very good actual delegate count).
Santorum and Gingrich are philosophically miles apart, just like McCain and Palin...and we can see how well that one worked! Picking a candidate who is more likeable and more appealing on an ideas basis to be the VP candidate, hoping that people who don’t like the Presidential candidate will vote for the VP, never wins because people know that VP is a meaningless position, barring unforeseen accidents. And it only causes great friction because the Presidential candidate feels overshadowed.
Really?
Evidence?
Santorum & Gingrich were united in favor of the Balanced Budget Amendment that nearly passed.
Santorum & Gingrich were united in favor of the Medicare Part D prescription drug entitlement - Santorum later said it was a mistake.
Santorum & Gingrich were united in favor of earmark use as the duty of Congress to allocate government spending. (Gingrich promoted earmark usage as a way to help Republicans get reelected.)
Santorum & Gingrich are promoting radical tax reductions & reforms as a key part of their platforms.
A Santorum/Newt ticket would be an almost identical repeat of Bush/Cheney. Since they got elected twice, I’d say it’s a good ticket.
But a Cheney/Bush ticket would have given us a better administration. Probably the same thing here. Gingrich/Santorum in 2012 and 2016 and then if they did a good job, Santorum/Palin in 2020
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