ORLANDO, FL – With the results of the Florida primary now in the books, Mitt Romney has emerged victorious with a double-digit win over his rival Newt Gingrich. Learning a lesson from South Carolina, Romney has emerged a meaner, more aggressive candidate here in the Sunshine State. He now understands that Newt must not be left to linger and is going for the knockout blow. After outspending Gingrich on the airwaves five to one, Romney’s attacks took their toll on the speaker and guaranteed him an easy win tonight.
However, with 95% of delegates still left on the table, this race is far from over. Gingrich has vowed to continue his campaign until the convention and is hoping that Tea Party support will help him carry the day. That being said, conservatives and Tea Party members have yet to coalesce around a candidate — if Rick Santorum continues to stick in the race he could take away a chunk of the constituency that Newt is banking on to win. With only one debate until Super Tuesday, Gingrich’s biggest battle will be fighting the perception that this race is over. If he can quelch the narrative that Romney is the eventual nominee and can keep the money coming in, he has a chance of making it into the summer.
One thing is for sure, there are still four viable candidates in the race and the mudslinging is sure to continue for at least the next couple months. Eventually though, one candidate is consistently going to be a winner and Mitt Romney has the most resources and money to carry his campaign until he is the last man standing.
The best thing I’ve seen in the entire Florida primary is Rubio encouraging the candidates to get back on track, focus on the real issue (defeating Obama) and stop trashing each other.
Clearly, he grasps and articulates the big picture far more clearly than any of the current contenders.
There are 4 viable candidates, but there are not 4 viable campaigns. Paul cannot capture the candidacy, he’s running for his own sense of pride and vanity. You’re not a viable contender if you start off by saying that there are several key states that you simply wont be competing in during the race. He’s running for a seat at the convention. Good for him for trying, but the rest of us are interested in a candidate for the Office of President.
Santorum has no funds and a very small organization that can barely visit all 50 states, much less compete in them. If he could raise the same cash as Gingrich, he would still be crippled by a lack of “boots on the ground”.
Only Gingrich and Romney have viable campaigns. Of the two, only Romney has working and functioning organizations in all states that are in primaries before April. Gingrich has several key states between now and then where he is not on the ballot. Even if he does well, this will leave a hole in the race for delegates that cannot be filled by any amount of rhetoric on his part.
To win, Gingrich needs to secure about another 10-15 million just to make a race out of Nevada and Michigan. To be competitive he needs to get into Nevada and work like crazy. Bear in mind that Romney won Nevada and Michigan soundly in 2008. It doesnt always follow that what you did last time you are going to get this time but its a serious indication of the size of cliff that he has to climb just to be competitive.
The short version of this race is that Romney has a campaign machine, whereas Gingrich has a campaign idea. Forget the candidates and what they say they stand for, if your candidate cant get his message out, the other guy will get your message out for your candidate.
That’s essentially what you just saw happen in Florida.
This is what’s wrong with American Politics and why you are all in such deep dung. Frank is right, but he shouldn’t be. And that means shame on all of you. While you quietly watch “Bachelor” and “America’s Funniest Videos” your country is being driven into the ground. From the high level view, Ron Paul is the only genuine candidate. The others are just different heads of the same snake. George Carlin was right in his monologue about “The Big Club”. Forget about the politicians. They’re just put there to give you the illusion you have a democracy. You Don’t! You have owners. How sad for you. It means another civil war is coming.
Give up your fantasy life Alexis. It is over. Color Newt Donions. He will be out of money next week, and out of the race by Super Tuesday.
Ron Paul is a viable candidate? Rick Santorum, who could not win election as Senator, is a viable candidate? Newt Gingrich, with negatives of 55% or more, is a viable candidate? If so, then I must be a viable candidate too.
Too bad mitt had to do what he did to destroy Gingrich. After hearing “It is nothing to get angry about” and trashing Gingrich the way he did I would rather Obamney was president. At least that way when nobody repeals obamacare we wont have to listen to more RINO excuses. Romney thinks parts of OBamacare are popular and his staff has already said they wont repeal it all. Government will continue to grow like it has since WWII. Remember Bush II tried halfheartedly to reform Fannie/freddy but didn’t go to the mat on it and he took the blame when a Clinton policy blew up in his face. Romney will not fight to repeal Obamacare and it will blow up in his face if elected.
Our establishment picks for pres since Reagan left office are Bush I, Dole, Bush II, McCain, and now Romney. Remember also what they said about Reagan who they did not like. They do not want a smaller government. Boehner has sold us out twice since becoming speaker. The last person who actually fought the democrats to cut spending, who actually shut down the government to do so, is getting trashed by the republican rino establishment who sold him out in 1997.
When it all falls apart I would rather Obama got the blame he deserves and we might get behind a real candidate in 2016. To those of you who say we can’t live through another 4 years of Obama, I agree. But we are about to nominate someone who will not cut government back. He will not do it and Republicans are going to get blamed for the failures of the policies they wont repeal.
Mitt didn’t have to what he did in order to destroy Gingrich.
Instead, Mitt could have campaigned on his ideas that are better than Gingrich’s.
Oh, wait…
Couldn’t say it any better (or half as well) myself if I tried.
If Obama wins, the GOP will rout the Donks in the House and the Senate in 2014 (it will be ugly).
If Romney wins, it will be the other way around.
I see our fiscal train hitting the cliff before the end of the next Presidential term.
I would rather see it happen on Obama’s feckless watch and having Sarah Palin or some other true conservative elected President than more of the same RNC/GOP crowd.
They can lose without any more of my votes.
“However, with 95% of delegates still left on the table, this race is far from over”…
Exactly sir! Exactly….
I’m hoping for a brokered convention…
In the year of Tebow, it’s odd to hear conservatives write off Santorum already because he has a “small organization.”
I wish it wasn’t always about who has the most cash; otherwise we might as well give this one to Obama.
Except Tebow got his ass kicked by the NFL’s equivalent of Obama – lying, cheating, crooked weasels (aka the Patriots).
Heh. I’m no Patriots fan either, but comparing President Zero to anybody that has actually accomplished something is really a stretch.
Seriously: Gingrich is BIG Government and undisciplined, Romney will be painted as part of the 1%, and Paul is OK on the budget and crazy on most everything else. Santorum wasn’t my first choice, but he’s got a solid family (you know the MSM is going to anoint Barack & Michelle), he’s got blue-collar roots, and he can articulate Conservatism. That last seems the most important thing in this election.
I want them all to stay in the race. So far no one is winning a majority … just a plurality. Let’s hav a brokered convention!
I’m with John … I’m not voting for the lesser of two evils. If this is the best that the Republocrats can do, then it’s time for the Party to fold and let a new one emerge.
The last person who actually fought the democrats to cut spending, who actually shut down the government to do so, is getting trashed by the republican rino establishment who sold him out in 1997.
Are Pat Buchanan and Ann Coulter really “the republican rino establishment”? REALLY? What about Jeff Flake and Darrell Issa – more of “the republican rino establishment”? Dan Quayle, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley?
An awful lot of people have endorsed Romney and/or criticized Gingrich, and they’re not “the republican rino establishment”.
Remember Bush II tried halfheartedly to reform Fannie/freddy but didn’t go to the mat on it
Remember that the man you are suggesting is the great reformer was a Fannie/Freddy lobbyist. That is, he worked against those Bush II reform efforts. Gingrich was worse then Bush on financial reform.
>”Romney thinks parts of OBamacare are popular and his staff has already said they wont repeal it all.”
Setting aside what you think Romney thinks, the fact is that Obamacare will be repealed in Congress or not at all. The President, whatever his name, has no power to repeal it.
But the President can veto full repeal. With Romney, I wouldn’t rule it out.
That’s an odd thing to say. There is one man left in the race who endorsed the idea of the “individual mandate” at the federal level. That man is Newt Gingrich. Romney has never endorsed it.
Yet for some reason you think that Romney will block a repeal bill and that Gingrich will fight like hell for one?
Why? Because Romney believes the individual mandate is a really spiffy idea, since he bloody well pushed for it in Mass.
You don’t seem to read very well. Romney has never proposed a federal level “individual mandate”. Gingrich HAS. On what basis do you assume that Romney would veto an Obamacare repeal bill and that Gingrich would fight for one?
This is how Gingrich’s lack of strategic planning will doom his campaign:
From this article:
http://www.komonews.com/news/national/Can-Gingrich-come-back-again-138457999.html
Snip…
Gingrich aides are aiming to hang on.
“We’re getting a late start here,” said John Grooms, Gingrich’s grassroots director in Maine, who until December was backing Herman Cain. “The goal here is to have a good, respectable showing.”
End Snip.
1) So the guy leading the charge for Gingrich in Maine was on another team just one month ago. Not last summer, 30 days ago he was working for someone else.
2) The goal is to have a respectable showing? Is it really?
All of the campaigns but Romneys are in serious trouble, but I agree with this article that they cant be ruled out yet. This race has had too many surprises, like Newt coming back from the dead twice, only to fall again, or Santorums surprise in Iowa, and Pauls persistent ability to keep his organization and money together and almost always get enough votes to at least be noticed. I think it is fair to at least wait until super tuesday before declaring this race over. At that point, a very large chunk of delegates will be selected, and it will include states that each of the candidates have a chance to do well in. If Romney manages to get most of the super tuesday states, then it will be fair to declare it over. Another big indicator is if we start seeing states where Romney manages to get over 50% of the vote, which he hasn’t quite done yet (Florida came close with high 40′s). If Romney can ever start to consistently get over 50% in states, then it would be pretty clear that even if every anti Romney vote coalesced around a single guy Romney could still win. But until that happens, the race is not over.