Newt?
Peter Robinson ·
March 14, 2012 at 6:53am
From the New York Times wrap-up of today's primaries in Alabama and Mississippi:
The biggest question hanging over the Republican contest is whether Mr. Gingrich will stay in the race.
Should he?
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Comments:
Dec '11
Re: Newt?
Absolutely! Competition always benefits the consumer.
Aug '11
Re: Newt?
In a three way race, the chances that Romney will be denied a majority going into the convention is very real. At this point, I think Newt is determined to do what he can to deny Romney that majority. I think many of the voters for Newt and Rick are simply voting against Romney. It seems to be an almost visceral reaction against the Romney candidacy. I don't think they actually support Newt or Rick with enthusiasm.
Jan '11
Re: Newt?
Yes, anyone that can take votes away from the political sweatervest (who is much like the athletic coaching sweatervest) is more than welcome to stay in. We don't know how Romney would govern as a "conservative". We know how Santorum governed as a "conservative" - supporting big government and voting for the "team" over principle. I'm sure that won't lead to a November slaughter in favor of a should be one term President.
Aug '11
Re: Newt?
For what it's worth, I support Newt more enthusiastically than either Romney or Santorum. I certainly hope he stays in the race. But if Newt leaves the race, my support doesn't swing to Santorum; I'll be supporting Romney.
Feb '11
Re: Newt?
The only way to get Newt to leave the race is to have all the Conservatives to run headlines like "NEWT CONTINUES TO HELP ROMNEY."
Jan '11
Re: Newt?
Splitting votes and delegates produces weird results. The Dems must be ecstatic, war chests are being drained, candidates alsoCan't we all please just accept it's Mitt and move on?This slow exsanguination isn't helping us at all
Dec '10
Re: Newt?
This is a rabbit trail, but what about a national primary? The top 2 candidates through a plurality vote run head to head in a final election. Less infighting and inter-party back biting when fighting an already, favorably handicapped incumbent. Then you might just get the candidate rather than the party that the nation likes.
Too much to ever hope for?
Nov '10
Re: Newt?
I expect we're headed for a convention regardless of whether he stays in or not.
In my view he should stay in the race but stop stumping. Go directly after Obama and implement his follow-the-president-around the country strategy.
This will certainly give him a stage nobody else in the primary has. It may or may not get attention of republican voters and propel him to the front by demonstrating his ability to pin Obama down and win in a head-to-head contest of policies, ideas and articulation skills. Even if the republican base doesn't respond he will have a maximum opportunity, perhaps the last of his life, to leverage the conservative cause with his considerable rhetorical skills, at a critical time in the battle of ideas.
I happen to have fallen in love with Newt-the-ideas-man, but I recognize that this is not particularly popular on the Republican side. But he only seems to fire up the troops when he steps forward in the hearts-and-minds battle and stands his ground for conservatism. To some, an unlikely champion, but yet an indisputable master of this art.
Dec '10
Re: Newt?
Erik, I have to believe that the Dems are not at all happy to see polls continually pop up showing Obama losing in more than one head-to-head matchup. Indeed, the Dems are so flummoxed by the current GOP nominating contest that they've taken to running ads against Sarah Palin instead of any of the actual GOP candidates. I like this process just fine: it's good that GOP voters have the chance to be heard, rather than feel that the party grandees are shoving their selection down our throats.
Apr '11
Re: Newt?
He probably should get out if for no other reason than his own health and sanity. I mean the man I think will not win the south, now since the evangelical vote has clearly broken for Santorum, he will not win the mid west or any of the coasts. Really he has no good way of continuing to put up a decent fight with any hope of wining.
The question I have is Santroum may have won these two states but did he really get that many delegates? Romney is going for the victory by decision rather than KO here so it doesn't matter how many States Santorum wins if he can't keep Romney from getting the right number of delegates.
Jan '11
Re: Newt?
So long as he has people willing to support him, why should he quit?
Aug '11
Re: Newt?
Of course he has to - so they can keep the reality show going. If Newt goes, it could end the race prematurely and there are advertising dollars to be lost on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News etc...
Dec '11
Re: Newt?
He should stay in as long as he is enjoying it.
Edited on March 14, 2012 at 12:39pmJan '11
Re: Newt?
What's the difference between a .280 hitter and a .300 hitter? A couple of hits per week. Not very much.
Gingrich didn't win last night, but he wasn't that far behind. He was 2% behind Santorum. Pundits argue that this was his "backyard" and he should have done better, but that strikes me as an insider canard that really doesn't work. After all, if he loses his home state, that's one thing, because he's run there before ... but if he loses in a state where he hasn't run, that doesn't tell very much.
There's an important distinction between being an ambitious, vanity candidate versus promoting a point of view. I think that Newt Gingrich has a huge ego, but that he's also trying to represent a deeply conservative point of view. It's one question whether he should drop out for personal reasons, but it's also important to ask whether he feels he can effectively promote his brand of conservatism.
I suspect that Gingrich's politician side is hesitant about his chances, but his ideological side is just as important to him. If so, I admire that.
Nov '11
Re: Newt?
Should he stay in? Probably not.
Will he? Of course he will. He's Newt Gingrich. Ego. (I was going to elaborate that last sentence, but one world will do.)
Nov '10
Re: Newt?
The question is not really, "Should Newt stay in the race?" The question should be, "Is there a plausible argument to made that Newt staying in the race will help defeat Romney?" Last night, Newt (rather vaguely) suggested some ways that his continuing in the race might help Santorum to deny Romney the nomination. Last night, Newt seemed to be suggesting that this is what is motivating him. I think it is a worthy goal. It would win him an enduring place in the pantheon of conservative "greats," if not a place in the next administration. But, is it plausible?
Feb '12
Re: Newt?
Many so-called "conservatives" and pundits- yes, even FOX News pundits- are urging Newt to exit the race "for the good of the party?" Sounds like an awful lot of "conservatives" are adopting the Socialist philosophy when it comes to Newt. What happened to rugged individualism? Newt is going rogue, and that's fine in my book, whether he wins or loses the nomination. I'm on the same page as Sarah Palin, i.e., let the race continue to the convention. I admire Newt's commitment to his supporters. In many ways, Newt could be exactly what we need in the White House, especially right after the Obama presidency ends.
Aug '11
Re: Newt?
Erik Larsen:
Can't we all please just accept it's Mitt and move on?
If we could accept Mitt, then we would have moved on. Obviously, the blasted electorate isn't buying what the establishment is selling. The establishment sees this as a problem with the electorate rather than the candidate.
Dec '10
Re: Newt?
The most likely outcome of a brokered convention is that the guy with the highest count convinces uncommitted delegates to throw in with him and he wins.
I'm not a Romney backer. My first choice left the building months ago. But Romney is most likely to win the nomination, whether outright by delegate count, or in a brokered convention. If this happens, I'll enthusiastically man the phones for him in the general.
What Newt has done in this primary is to get a large part of the electorate watching the media in a critical way. This can't be a bad thing.
Newt won't win, not even in a brokered convention. But I hope he stays in.
Edited on March 14, 2012 at 3:17pmRe: Newt?
Although it's a separate question, I predict he will withdraw. On Fox News Ed Rollins just advised Gingrich to do that. According to Intrade.com, Newt's chance of winning the nomination is 0.6%. (To compute that, I used the average of the bid and ask prices.) By that measure, his chance is about 1/8 that of Santorum and about 1/2 that of Ron Paul. More amazing, his chances are about half those of Jeb Bush, and he is essentially tied with Chris Christie and Sarah Palin.