Is Anyone Still Paying Attention to Newt Gingrich?
If they aren’t, it’s not for lack of trying on his part.
Newt has been all over the map in the last 48 hours, predicting an upset in the Delaware primary today while also hinting he might drop out of the race sometime this week.
But the fact is, with no embedded TV reporters and just a few print journalists following him around, anything interesting Gingrich has to say is not being transmitted to the voters. His role in the campaign has been reduced to that of a political curiosity — a virtual hanger-on when most of the GOP has moved on and, reluctantly in many cases, accepted Mitt Romney as the nominee of the party.
The results in Delaware will hardly matter. Romney is expected to take a huge delegate haul away from primaries in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Rhode Island — and that’s even if he loses Delaware.
Newt Gingrich hinted he may withdraw from the presidential race if he has a poor showing in the Delaware primary Tuesday – a state where he has been actively campaigning for several weeks.
“I think we need to take a deep look at what we are doing,” Gingrich told NBC News in an exclusive interview on Monday. “We will be in North Carolina tomorrow night and we will look and see what the results are.
The Guardian lays it on a little thickly when describing the Gingrich campaign:
You have to love that “we” in “we need to take a deep look at what we are doing” there – as if there’s a mighty team of political operatives behind Gingrich, when we know it’s just Newt, Callista and the guy in the elephant costume, RC Hammond, who hasn’t even been paid in a month.
Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post has something of a post-mortem on the Gingrich campaign:
[F]ollowing Gingrich’s win in South Carolina on Jan. 21, he faded precipitously throughout the month of February before making a mini-comeback with a win in Georgia and second place finishes in Oklahoma and Tennessee on March 6. Gingrich again spiked briefly a week later when he finished second in Alabama and Mississippi but then fell off badly over the last month — winning just eight percent in Illinois on March 20 and 5.9 percent in Wisconsin on April 3.
Gingrich’s average percentage of the vote across all 31 states is 13.8 percent. If you remove Virginia, where Gingrich didn’t qualify for the ballot, and Wyoming (where he received .5 percent of the vote), Gingrich’s average across the remaining 29 states was 14.7 percent.
Gingrich won just two states: South Carolina and his home state of Georgia. He finished second eight times, third five times and fourth a whopping 16 times. In the last month plus, Gingrich finished fourth in Illinois, second in Louisiana, third in Maryland, third in the District of Columbia and fourth in Wisconsin.
All told, Gingrich has received 2,284,557 votes in the Republican race to date, according to this invaluable raw vote chart from Real Clear Politics. As of the end of March, Gingrich has spent $21,417,400 on his campaign, meaning that he paid roughly $9.37 for every vote he got.
Gingrich is one of those politicians you admire for many reasons, but would hesitate to vote for because of his instability and lack of prudence in his language and actions. His attack on Romney’s Bain Capital years was no different than the liberal critique of Mitt’s actions there, leading to widespread resentment even among non-Romney voters. It is almost certain that many of those criticisms will find an echo in the Obama campaign this fall, darkening the Gingrich legacy from the race and certainly lessening his chances that he will play a major role in any potential Romney administration.
But perhaps, in his heart of hearts, Newt would like to retire, or at least pull back from the center of the arena in order to spend more time with his wife and family. After more than 30 years in the thick of every major domestic and foreign policy battle fought between right and left, Gingrich has given his all for the cause and has earned the right to relax a little.
Well, Newt’s campaign has not worked. Whether it’s his own inconsistencies, a vast MSM plot, the meat of his positions, bad strategy, or just overwhelming Romney money, hardly matters after the fact.
Newt is probably too old for the gig anyway, not to mention his personal baggage, not to mention his personal style which apparently works in the south and just does not work in the north. OTOH, Romney is only a couple of years younger, and I’m not sure Romney’s style works anywhere, but Newt’s portly, high voiced appearance turns northerners off, while Romney’s Mormon greaseball appearance is still accepted nationwide as straight arrow – too straight, but I guess it’s never really too straight for a POTUS candidate.
I’m afraid it’s some kind of a travesty, and a judgement against us all, that Newt’s candidacy didn’t do at least a little better, but these are dark and nasty times in so many ways.
Newt should pack it in.
And then beg Mitt for the Sec of State job…
But get rejected and then beg Mitt for the Sec of Defense job…
But get rejected and then beg Mitt for the Sec of Edu job…
And then, as Sec of Edu, close down that worthless Dept…
…and show up Pres. Reagan and former Sec of Edu Wm Bennett, who both failed to close that worthless Dept of Edu.
After more than 30 years in the thick of every major domestic and foreign policy battle fought between right and left, Gingrich has given his all for the cause and has earned the right to relax a little.
I wouldn’t exactly say Newt’s “battles” have been those of a brave warrior risking his life for a cause — especially the last 13 of those 30 years. I expect him to quit running for an office he’ll never get (although I bet he campaigns for a post in the Romney administration) but I don’t expect him to ever relax. He’ll keep talking and writing books and answering to Sean Hannity’s “Mister Speaker!”
FOX News Admits Ron Paul Could Win Iowa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pOXJt1ahVsE
oh whoowhoo…Ron who?….
This man and his followers could single handedly hand Obama the presidency. A third party, supporters that know no reason , or understand the process completely and what a vote for him in presidential race with obama and mitt means. It would, not could, would, split conservatives completely and liberals win again..
We know Ron is not going to win the nomination or be on the ticket. It was a good run. If he wins Iowa, great, he’s not the nominee..
I sincerely see the need for a third party..but there is just too much at stake in this coming election to chance it..
Ron Paul isn’t even 3rd party material. If he ran, the only votes he would get would be those of his minions who will either write him in or stay home in any case. Ron Paul is a non factor. And he won’t run anyway because he knows that his son, Rand, would ultimately pay the price for it. So let us move on.
I don’t get Mr. Moran’s constant obsession with besmirching the most accomplished, knowledgable, articulate, and courageous candidate in the presidential race. He reminds me of the bitter Democrats who couldn’t credit President Reagan with freeing hundreds of millions of people in Eastern Europe. Ingratitude is unbecoming. Nancy Reagan anointed Mr. Gingrich as her husband’s successor. He accomplished much for us that was considered impossible at the time, things that people like Mr. Moran take for granted. And in Gingrich’s place we are supposed to accept a man with no core convictions. I donated to Gingrich and voted for Gingrich. However things turn out, he is my leader.
“I don’t get Mr. Moran’s constant obsession with besmirching the most accomplished, knowledgable, articulate, and courageous candidate in the presidential race. ”
I understand that, but it is what it is. Newt said as much today. I was hoping that an honest, conservative underdog like Rick Santorum could throw them all for loop, but it didn’t work out that way. Apparently most Republicans believe that Mitt Romney has the best chance to beat Obama. We can debate why that should or should not be the case ad nauseum, but the reality remains. The primary is over. There will be no brokered convention. The choice is Obama or Romney. You have to have a cinder block for a brain to expect that that could change.
Would the real Newt Gingrich please stand up, please stand up, please stand up…
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/289159/gingrich-and-reagan-elliott-abrams?pg=1
It looks like Newt’s still preparing to fight. According to a report in the Daily Rash, Gingrich announced he’s having a yard sale this weekend in order to raise additional campaign cash. You go, Newt! http://www.thedailyrash.com/newt-gingrich-has-yard-sale-to-raise-campaign-money
Yeh, some of us are still paying attention to Newt.
You can vote for Oromney… I am going to vote for someone else.
Thanks.. much love and Fc..off.
Right back at ya. And watch the screen door.
Some of us haven’t resigned to voting for the leftist under an ‘R’. Romney is just a liberal capitalist. But his policies will not save us, because they simply pause our leftward slide rather than reversing it.
Romney cannot articulate conservatism to save his life. He’s incapable of displaying bold colors. He prefers to speak in pastels. The only time he grows enough courage to speak semi-boldly is when he knows he’s preaching to the choir.
We don’t need a preacher that saves his boldness for the choir. We need someone who can get out and set a stark contrast between himself and Obama. Romney isn’t that person. Romney has more in common with Obama than in contrast.
Either Romney fails to win the nomination, or we’re doomed to a second term of Obama.
I don’t know, maybe there’s some alternate universe you could feel more at home in, but Romney is now the GOP candidate. And I’m sorry, but your RANT that he is just another Obama is idiotic. For one thing, he has promised repeated and in no uncertain terms that he will lead the repeal of Obamacare. There is no way that he could back down from that, even if he wanted to. That is just one policy example. I could go one. But there is no need. Romney was not my first choice. But the primary voters have spoken. And now I care about ONE thing: kicking the Boy King’s ass out of office. To hell with all this anti-Romney sniveling.
The great geniuses of our time did not accomplish what they did by caving to the winds of popular opinion. They did not make great strides by believing everyone who told them they “just couldn’t do it” or that “its impossible”.
This is the biggest collective character flaw of the whole human race: the fact that we believe the insipid pessimists around us who are constantly and cynically reminding us that “it can’t be done”.
Well guess what. We MUST elect a true, bold colors conservative. We can’t afford to “go along to get along” with another damn lukewarm centrist clown. We ran a lukewarm pastel Republican-in-name-only last time around, and Obama beat him, because McCain could not articulate conservatism, let alone his own platform. We’re going to face the same problem with Romney. He will get caught up in petty traps laid by the media, and when he’s not getting caught in those traps, he’ll be coming off as a pompous a**. When he attempts to connect with the audience, he comes off as condescending. I don’t know whether he genuinely sympathizes or empathizes with the audience, but it certainly doesn’t appear so. Maybe its the voice he over-rehearsed in the mirror over all those years. Maybe its the fact that he changes his positions more often than Lady Gaga changes costumes. Maybe its the fact that he was never “conservative” until he figured out that bankers and corporate executives can’t make it in the Democrat party.
The fact of the matter is, Romney is everyone’s least favorite candidate…and yet we’re stuck with him. Why? Because conservatives played “chase the winner” through this whole race rather than picking a candidate and stick with them. All the media had to do was sit back and snipe each frontrunner until we were left with the crappiest candidate of all. If people picked a candidate and stuck with them based on research done themselves, we wouldn’t have this problem, because the voters would be immune to the thin, watery mud slung at the candidates by the willfully slanderous media.
Gingrich is not the bold colors conservative you’re looking for. He is an opportunist who seized a chance to fool Republicans again. He talks a great game, but he doesn’t have the spine to follow through. I’m sure he is a wonderful historian, but that doesn’t make a great president.
I plan to vote for Newt when Texas finally has a primary. Not that it ever makes any difference who we vote for here.
I like his ideas and I would like to see him in a major position in a Republican administration.
Uh … not to put too fine a point on it: No.
Newt should have never been. He knew, and still knows, he is unelectable. He carries too much baggage, and his political opportunism as fully transparent. He should have dropped out before Santorum, but he’s a stubborn old coot who just hung around to be a pain in everyone’s ass. I’m almost to the point of having as much contempt for him as I have for McCain and I wasn’t a Romney cheerleader. I said it months ago, if Romney is the clear winner, then regardless of how I feel about him, he is the guy and I’m going to get and out vote for him. Gingrich should do the same.
Here’s hoping Mitt Romney employs the same scorched-earth tactic he used on Gingrich against Obama. Romney spent 20,000,000 dollars in less than 3 weeks in the Florida primary: 20 million spent to depress the vote & convince the voter that Gingrich was unsuitable for high office. Who says money don’t talk? Romney played hardball with people on his side. Will he play the same brand of hardball with the enemy. (I use the word e-n-e-m-y MOST advisedly.)