Associated Press
One more week for the Gingrich campaign?
It's hardly a secret that Rick Santorum wants and needs Newt Gingrich to exit the Republican presidential race. The longer the former Speaker stays in, the easier it is for Mitt Romney to lead the pack and win the GOP nomination.
Gingrich continues to insist he isn't going anywhere, despite his awful Super Tuesday performance everywhere except his home state, but his campaign seemed to lay down an important marker yesterday. Gingrich's campaign spokesman told NBC News that wins in both Alabama and Mississippi next week are essential.
The spokesperson, R.C. Hammond, was even more explicit with the Wall Street Journal.
Q: Newt said he had to win Georgia to remain a credible candidate. Does he have to win Alabama and Mississippi to remain a credible candidate?
A: Yes.
Q: He has to win?
A: Yes.
As Andrew Sullivan noted, "There doesn't seem much wriggle room in the quote."
It's possible that Gingrich will change his mind, dropping this position and picking up a newer, younger line next week. But if he comes up short in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, and sticks to his guns, Gingrich's presidential bid may wrap up in just seven days.
And if so, the impact on the larger race could be pretty significant. Romney has eked out a series of narrow wins over Santorum, thanks in part to Gingrich splitting the anti-Romney vote. If the former Speaker steps aside, Romney's path to the nomination will get considerably bumpier.
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Last time I checked Newt was a member of the 1% maybe he is secretly supporting Rmoney as far as conspiracys go, I don't know. After his little jaunt as a candidate he stands to do very well under the Rmoney administration. Now that we know who Rmoneys' base consists of.
Gingrich probably doesn't care much for Romney, but Nelson Adelson does. Here's the deal: Adelson gives Gingrich money so that he can foul up Santorum, thus helping Romney--he candidate Adelson is really trying to help at this point. Adelson's money feeds Gingrich's huge ego by allowing him to appear at least somewhat relevant.
So the longer Gingrich stays around 1) the better Romney's chances; and 2) the more Newt's future income increases. He can sell more books and command higher speaking fees.
There's no reason for Gingrich to ever exit this race under this setup.
That's just silly. Winning Alabama and Mississippi wouldn't make Mister Noot credible.
It's possible that Gingrich will change his mind, dropping this position and picking up a newer, younger line next week.
Oh, Steve, you kill me! Just perfect
With any luck Newt will convince some of these gulf-staters that they might one day be moon colonists.
it is romney who should quit...notice that rick and newt combined for 2/3 of vote..that is where the majority of conservative vote is going..it is apparent that americans are saying that the white house can not be bought...we need a conservative not a mass. liberal....my vote cannot be bought..only results and a credible plan for success will persuade me..and newt has convinced me
gingrich has more wives than there are lucid, intelligent people who consider him a "credible candidate."
Lest we forget, his "campaign" began as a book tour- and he has yet to spend a dime of his own money. . .
Wow. If Gingrich drops out, then Santorum may give Romney a run for his money; especially since Romney's base is the poor down-trodden rich.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46661982#46661982
If Gingrich drops out, then doesn't that free up some of his pledged delegates (it varies based on each state's rules) to vote for whomever they want. Those delegates might find themselves under extreme pressure to make an announcement of support for Romney to bring the contest to an early end. Gingrich might also find himself under pressure to make an endorsement, which could influence his formerly pledged delegates.
Gingrich has repeatedly said that it is crucial for conservatives to prevent Romney the moderate from getting the nomination. Populist conservatives will view Gingrich as a Judas if he fails to endorse Santorum when he leaves the race.
As I posted over at WM. Ol' Newty's MO
I will not be the Republican candidate
I will sell books
I will increase my speaking fees
I will explain to anyone who will listen that if they had chosen me Obama wouldn't have gotten a second term.
I will appear daily on Faux Nooze and complain about Obama
I will continue to appear almost weekly on Meet the Village with David (corporate slut ) Gregory because I'm an historian.
He has had a plan from the start.
We may need Newt to stay in so he can keep making outrageous claims that are so easy to refute and to laugh at.
And the next time he beats his chest about how he balanced the budget, someone needs to point out that he did that (with President Clinton's help) by raising taxes. If we let the Bush tax cuts expire, we will get the tax rates back to Newt's level and maybe we can balance the budget again. But we cannot do it without raising taxes.
I have to disagree with Andrew Sullivan. I think politicians can always find wriggle room when they're caught in a lie or want to backtrack from something they've said. Romney does it almost daily. But I'd have to give the blue ribbon to Sen. Kyle of Arizona. About a year ago, he said abortions account for well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does. That isn't true and when Kyle was pressed on it, his office said "his remark was not intended to be a factual statement". Now that was PRICELESS!
Gingrich is sending a strong message to the conservative voters of Alabama and Mississippi that he thinks it should be their decision whether he remains in the race or whether it's time for conservatives to coalesce around Santorum's candidacy - and there's a tacit promise that he will abide by their decision. That gives Santorum the opportunity to make his pitch to those voters that it's time to coalesce around his candidacy in order to prevent Romney from becoming the nominee. If Gingrich wins those states, he will argue that those southern conservative voters decided that they want him to stay in the race, and he will abide by their decision. If Santorum wins those states and Gingrich doesn't leave the race, then southern conservatives will blame Gingrich for playing the spoiler if Romney winds up with the nomination - so Gingrich really doesn't have any wiggle room unless he wants southern conservatives to view him as the goat of 2012.
Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both still in the presidential race because of big buck donors, hiding in plain sight, exercising the proposition that free speech is manufactured on the printing press, having the significance of placing maximum of number zeros after a substantial accounting of your wealth. Is your epitaph to read ‘political donor’ to unneeded controversy.
Since this does not qualify for much in the scrolls of democracy or been hewn close to the will of a free people, what does it mean?
Does self-government make sense or does some other form of governance make sense, neither view has a substantial credible history success. What if the power of governance came from the purse, it would only enact laws of the purse, by the purse and purposes of the purse.
Economics, the dim science of counting here and there and projecting this and that, has a role, if explains that Sunday is just one of seven days of the week, that would not be news, but if could grow to two Sundays and to a majority of Sundays, then Sunday economics would be significant. Just for fun we offer one Sunday a week, to forgive you for the other six days, as marketing incentive? If the week were counted in dollars, then the week could grow in proportion to the economy, we could have a boom, if all we had to do was to vote the majority of dollars for the week and work accordingly.
Did you ever meet a pastor at Sunday picnic and engage in a contentious discussion? Santorum fits that role, exchanging pleasantries in the face of the Sunday sermon, practiced at every service, for years on end. It was not once a debate of new uncertain facts, and not a clarification of misunderstandings. It possible and likely that after hear the same message that it faded, or that if it came with a new face if sound the same, in end maybe it was the presence of you being there that made the difference between being a part of something and not being there. The role suggested here is to bring into the congregation those that might leave if they heard a message that conflicts with civil standards or even modest logic, allowing members to be there and able to leave with peace of mind.
It not beyond comprehension, or perhaps just perception, that having a political ringer two in the roll of the dice for a presidential candidate would help to solidify a weak candidates position. Is it even necessary to resort to some random game to manipulate the results? Rolling the dice is not needed at all? If the favored candidate has been long known, has run before, and has been exposed with weaknesses, those copious facts for the basis of a ‘candidates economy’ a set of known variables, input data, parameters to the latest release of gaming analysis software.
Please do not get the impression that by manipulating the party results, creating confusion, deception, by entering this race of that, by not filing here, changing the rules over night that this create a plausible cover for the big money donations that have a public face. This noise could have one large, major impact, to make the final candidate choice look like a Sunday picnic all sunny and bright just after the tornado passed.
History speaks with one thousand voices, but when the music start, the chorus begins, pleasant voices lead in harmony, and bad singers move their lips in silent support, and those voices of alarm are but silent in the tomorrow tears.