I can guess some of what it means, but can’t be sure of all of it.

In South Carolina exit polls, Romney wins only the “moderate or liberal”, those with incomes in excess of $200,000.00, those with postgraduate education, those who oppose the tea party movement, and those who think religion does not matter at all.

I assume that means other demographic groups all went for either Santorum or Gingrich or Paul (oh my!) But it doesn’t mean that there isn’t continuing support for Romney in those other groups. So this observation by Erick isn’t on quite such solid ground:

But he cannot get the votes of those who think we need to reform and reduce the power of Washington, which I venture to say is a sizable portion of the base.

Head-to-head against Newt he came up very short today, but that doesn’t equate to “very few of those who voted for Newt would vote for Romney against Obama.”

The argument is being distilled into “Newt is the guy we’d like to elect, but can he beat Obama?” And “Mitt isn’t as inspiring as we’d like, but he’s a lot more comforting to a lot of people than Newt is.” Tonight, Newt’s favorable/unfavorable ratio in Florida is reported to be about 25/50 (or maybe that’s the way a Newt/Barry match shakes out). Which brings me to my next point:

Newt has the ideas we like, but if he can’t get elected, what good are they? And Mitt’s ideas aren’t that bad. They don’t satisfy those who demand a set of BOLD changes, but I’d rather have the right changes than bold, impossible ones–after all, what is Obamacare if not BOLD? Not that I feel like finding some bad ideas on Newt’s website. It’s just a philosophical observation. And, if we don’t defeat him, Barry gets to try some more of his own boldness.

We saw the Good Newt tonight after the results were in. Charming, magnanimous towards his Republican counterparts, antagonistic towards, Obama, and generally the guy we’ll need to see from now on if he hopes to turn those negatives around. If the Bad Newt shows up, the one with the snarky one-liners against Romney and the others (although he doesn’t need to bother with the others at all), he’ll simply start to erode the good will he’s generated the last few days. If I were him, I’d cool it even if Mitt hit me with both barrels below the belt IF HIS CHARGES HAD SOME TRUTH TO THEM. If they were untrue, I’d just correct the record without calling Mitt a liar, etc. But that’s me. I think that a classy response beats a nasty one every time.

The Good Newt told us again tonight how he was going to challenge Obama to a series of ultra-long debates. I have my doubts that there will be ANY debates under the circumstances he described, and even under the rules Obama will insist on I suspect that there may be only one, no more than three. So our hope of nominating the Debate King isn’t all that important, IMHO.

Finally, re: Newt v. Mitt–if Newt does get elected, how will it go? Can he get along with Congressional leadership, or will he try to be President, Speaker and Republican Senate Leader all at once?

These are the kinds of questions that people who are not conservative die-hards, but who are willing to vote for not-Obama may be thinking about, and those are the folks who will probably decide the election. If Newt can turn around his negatives among non-conservatives, most of the hesitancy to support him goes away.

I missed Dan McLaughlin’s column the other day, so I reserve the right to take it all back after I read it.

I think I misread your intent. If you meant “If Newt beats Romney in the end, for the nomination,” I agree, Mike.

…. willl vote for Barack Obama and the GOP will lose in a rout. Gingrich would be lucky to get 40% of the vote in a general election matchup against Obama.

Haven’t you idiots learned anything from the recent Senate elections in Nevada and Delaware? Both races were emminently winnable for the Republicans, but you hard core right-wing loons insisted on nominating two absolutely awful candidates because they were ideologically pure “true conservatives”. The results were predictable and now we have to look at Harry Reid for another six years. Thanks a lot.

Yeah, I’m sure the “base was energized” in both races. The problem that you lunkheads can’t seem to comprehend is that the almighty “base” only accounts for about 20% of the voting population!!!!

Looks like you’re bound and determined to try and repeat the same mistake again. Hopefully, now that the race is moving on to other states where the percentage of dumb, racist rednecks is significantly lower than in South Carolina, Gingrich will fade and Romney’s superior financing and organizational skills will prevail.

But there is no way that I will ever vote for a complete and utter scumbag like Newt Gingrich. I can promise you that tens of millions of moderate Republicans across the country feel the same way. I wouldn’t trust Newt to wash my car. I sure as hell am not going to trust him with the most powerful office in the world where he would be making decisions that directly affect me and my family.

How many of the people that Newt worked with in Congress back in the 1990s are now supporting his candidacy? ZERO!!! Doesn’t that tell you something? Oh yeah … I forgot …. It’s the “establishment”, right? Laughable.

As an aside, it really is comical how many of you who absolutely ripped Bill Clinton back in 1996 for his affair with Monica Lewinsky now seem perfectly willing to give Newt Gingrich a free pass. You’re all hypocrites, just like he is.

We are transitioning from a time when the U.S. economy was larger than the rest of the the world combined and U.S. middle class were the wealthy “one percenters” of the world, to a time where the jobs of the U.S. middle class are being siphoned off to other countries where labor is cheaper, increasingly leaving the U.S. middle class either unemployed or fighting to keep a job where there is constant downward pressure on wages due to foreign competition. The inevitable outcome of a country of 300 million people with average workers earning $30 or so per hour competing with a country of 1.2 billion with average workers earning $3 per hour, is that U.S. wages go down a lot, and Chinese wages come up a little, until they meet somewhere probably around $10 per hour. Now for certain, the U.S. has stalled the inevitable, by continuing to create high tech jobs that pay well, to a certain extent, but can the U.S. maintain its position based solely on better technology forever? Probably not. Eventually the U.S. will compete again, but the U.S. middle class will now be part of the world’s 99 percent.

The plan of the Democrats to provide a safety net for the increasing numbers of displaced workers in the U.S. cannot be sustained, as eventually there will be too many for the system to handle (some would say we have already passed that point now, since the only way to continue to provide the benefits now is to borrow the money from China). The Republicans talk of creating jobs, which sounds great, but how do you do that when the impediment to creating jobs isn’t just government taxes and regulation, but cheap foreign labor? And I am not saying cutting trade is the answer, as that would raise prices on American consumers.

Is the decline of the American middle class inevitable? Or is there a solution? This is what I’d like to hear candidates address.

who is this? ” Put another way, the current Republican leadership fears that the man who helped the GOP take back the House for the first time in 40 years and his allies in the tea party who helped take back the House in 2010 will cause the GOP to now lose”.

i live in florida and i know about 30 conservatives making well under $200,000 who are voting for romney. gingrich scares the crap out of us.

This is insane.
Newt has never managed a company, never done anything other than his foundation and sell books and be a professor but he’s the right guy to send to Wash to cut and make govt smaller when he’s a big govt republican? Reagan would denounce Newt if he were alive today. He’s a progressive. I agree with Larry Kudlow you can’t forgive Newt for his class warfare anti capitalism anti Bain stances.

I know Eric hates Romney I think as much as Newt’s 2nd wife hates him. When Newt wins and Obama kicks his butt and we lose house and senate which is exactly opposite of what we should be doing. Eric I’ll remind you and blame you! There has never been a poll that says Newt can win in general. We need to take the white house and have the coat tails to take over the senate.

Told him that i am pissed that the establishment is trying to shove Romney down our throat. Told him that any money that i planned on giving to the RNC is now going to Newt! I can almost feel the FEAR on the other end of the phone line! Something tells me that mine wasn’t the first!

Hey, this Rick Perry “gal” is getting excited, too! I cannot wait to watch Newt mop the floor with ole BO! It is going to be worth the wait!

It’s nice to hear something positive. We’ve got to stop kicking the crap out of who we have and give credit where it is due. We’ve done nothing but deluge Romney, ignore Santorum, and dismiss Paul (which, in Paul’s case, might be a good idea, but he’s got some good things to say..). All the flipping whiners and complainers: shut up! God, we know how much our candidates suck already!!! Maybe hate hate on Obama for a while and remind us that we really do want him out and that we haven’t changed our minds..

How do we lose the House? There’s a chance we don’t win the Senate… but losing the House? Who’s credibly projecting that this will happen?

The point is the “leadership” will lose by casting their lots with Romney and hopefully get replaced by real conservatives, not quasi-conservatives concerned mostly with maintaining their own power, influence and paychecks.

Newt has his warts, but once Perry became non-viable, Newt was the only option close to a three-legged conservative. He has the verbal skills and can relate to people in order to win the primary and defeat Obama. Most of the base can get excited about Newt, not so with Romney.

Romney would make us lose the House more than Newt. Romney represents the stereotype of Republicans that Democrats want to create/have created. Even people that won’t like Newt see he doesn’t fit that stereotype.

The typical establishment screed that “we’ll lose the House and Senate if you don’t accept the candidate WE pick.”

Buddy, we’d have more Repub Senators today except the moderate Republicans refused to support Tea Party candidates that won primaries over establishment picked candidates. But you guys are the first to tell Conservatives to support Moderates that win primaries!

I’ve had it with you two-faced, do-as-I-say types. No more votes or support for Establishment candidates just to get the letter R in the win column. Establishment Repubs are no different than the Ds on the other side of the aisle.

And btw, I’m a member of our county Repub Exec Committee. But a Conservative FIRST. Sign me a card-carrying member of this revolt!

They don’t care about Romney’s core or lack thereof. In fact, Status Quo is fine.

What they fear is losing.

if they lose with Romney it will be “the unreliable base let us down”

If they lose with Gingrich it will be “proof we cant let those Tea Party crazies nominate un-electable doofus candidates” (Shades of Sharron Angle, COD etc.)

Never mind that THEY have nominated their shares of losers. We nominate moderates (Matt Fong anyone?) who get pasted. We let status quo pols lose (DeWine) etc.

I would grant one thing: Romney is more likely to beat obama than Newt. But IMHO both can beat Obama if they run a good campaign, and quite frankly Newt’s campaign out-did Romney’s campaign this past week. Easily.

of the SC race.

Newt won, OVERWHELMINGLY, every single demographic breakdown except 2: Those with incomes above $200,000 and those under 29 years of age with Mitt taking the former and Ron Paul the latter.

He outperformed Huckabee and McCain both and is likely to do the same in FL IF he can raise funds in the next 10 days to buy air time in FL between now and their primary.

As Erick said earlier “So much for Newt’s unelectability”

I heard the same thing you did from Brit Hume. Did you also hear Brit after the debate on Thursday? He was not complimentary to Newt then either. He thought Rick won the debate and that Newt looked angry and mad and how would that play to the female in SC? Guess what Newt won every category including the female married voter. Brit, like so many pundits, miss the mark on this issue. He said Mitt favorability was 45 to 38 as well and how did that help Mitt?

Newt’s negatives are high why? Well lets see Romney has spent millions to blast him and cut him down! Now that has hurt his appearance now but remember Newt can now build on that and go up. His speech tonight demonstrated that. The thing for Newt is alot of his negatives are being aired now which gives him the time to build and swing for the upside. In other words, he is vetted…..Newt tonight showed he can also look and speak very sincerely and that will help big time. But remember in the end it is the Economy that wins the elections!

They may be instinctively negative to Newt, but Newt can tap to some degree into the positive feelings of the Clinton era.

I think there are a lot of Reagan democrats who Newt can get. I don’t think the 58% is baked into the cake.

There is a lot to fear in this election. We are looking for the best option from a universe of options in which no option looked good at first blush.

Newt will have to show some real personal growth for him to win the nomination. If he can show that maturity—show that he has grown, I think he can win the nomination and the general.

If not, Romney (whose ability to even make a basic defense of his own record at Bain) will be the default candidate.

I hope that both candidates force improvement in the other. In a way, each is the perfect foil for the other.

however, I also think this is mostly a reflection of the “old” Newt. There is a possibility that old Newt resurfaces. As the public gets more used to Newt, the old baggage will fade. This will improve his numbers while Obama’s likely will sink once the republicans ramp up to full speed on Obama.

He can rally the base, not drag them along like Romney. He can draw clear contrasts with Obama and attack Obamacare where Romney cannot. He can attack Obama with partisanship by displaying what he did with the republican half-congress compared to what he did with Clinton. Like it or not, Clinton is extremely popular with the “Regan Democrat” types. These voters never really warmed to Obama (they were Hillary supporters to the bitter end). They are why his #’s are so bad in the Midwest. Gingrich can attract these swing voters like Romney can’t. You have to attack your opponents weakness. Gingrich can do that.

Romney’s 75% disapproval is baked into a brick!

Obummer’s disapproval is also a brick, and it is growing with his marxist inspired decisions like cancelling the pipeline.

And, being a cake, Newt’s can be cut apart and broken down with time. And, it will be. Because at the end of the day Obummer will still be Obummer, and America is ready for a change.

Romney is depressing.
I just don’t like Santorum and I wish he would go away.
Thank you Newt for taking up the 10th amendment battle!
AND Newt has the best economic growth plan!

..in a Presidential election.

And, in what alternate universe could a guy who has been a Washington inside for over 30 years be ‘too much change”. He’s an old warhorse Washington hack. Kind of like John McCain, but with a lot more baggage.

Good luck with that plan.

if he were to be elected, please tell me what Newt Gingrich would do to make your life and the life of this country better?

What plan does he have? What do his years as a pol show that he would go to bat for, die for?

What principles has he ever held, never broken?

what, help me understand. Oh, I understand that you and others like that he sounds good going into battle, but those are just words.

What has he really ever done. Don’t tell me the welfare stuff, because he tried to sabatoge that from getting accomplished so worried about his political future was he.

I mean honestly, the nomination is HIS! How dare Newt step on his sandcastle.

Newt spoke like a president tonight. Romney’s star is dimming with each passing moment as Gingrich shows him how a real man campaigns and debates.

But it clearly marks a change in strategy for Romney, where he will begin campaigning against Newt vs looking over the pack and focusing on Obama. The first three contests, in retrospect, have gone how you’d expect. Romney played it as the front runner for so long because the field was so muddled that you couldn’t say who exactly the challenger was. Now it is clear, and it is Newt. A two man race with Romney vs Newt will be exactly what both candidates need to win in November. Romney’s campaign has the organization and money that mirrors Obama, while Newt has the rhetoric and zeal that mirrors Obama. It is a win win for the Republican party, with a side of risk if the party actually becomes as irrational as many fear and splinters between Tea Party anti-establishment and the rest.

The heck with their crap.

I can see right through their crap. Of cource CNN looks like a Democrat campaign headquarters. I bet you could bring out some Cinton signs and see the room light up. Fox News is losing their credibility. CNN seems to be making an effort to be more neutral, at least at this point.

A separate question, Why does CNN seem to treat EE like a redheaded stepchild. They barely give him any air time. When they do, I can tell he tries to speed up and get as much as possible in in his two minutes that he appears out of breath. EE has some of the best campaign insight, but seems extremely underused by CNN.

It is a sad but TRUE that CNN is more balanced than Fox. Everyone in Fox is against Newt. Most people that appear in Fox are part of Washington Republican establishment & are all RINOs. Their opinion of Conservatives & Tea Partyers similar to Democrats – bunch of hicks living in the fly over country!

Hannity used to be acceptable. Recently, I see he also has seen the light (may be a friedly chat from bosses upstairs) and now he is cozying up to Romney with cream puff questions making look like a conservative!

and that includes Fox News. Hannity’s radio show is carried by Premiere Radio Network, subsidiary of Clear Channel, which was purchased by Bain Capital in 2006.

http://presstv.com/usdetail/221076.html

I know, old news…but that is what Newt is up against.

as I’ve stated before and which I told Brett Baier about when he ansered my email months ago, and gave them an earful about FOX. The person asking the questions, in fact, reminded me that I could add “comments” after I’d voted down FOX.

Maybe more people are catching on.

nt

That has been an interesting relationship.

Aside from Hannity, the on air Fox talent seem to have a real visceral dislike of him. And look at how quick they were to drop him as a paid commentator as soon as he said he might consider running,

The last laugh is on Fox though. They paid Palin millions in the hopes she would be the nominee and they would get sole access. She not only didn’t run but she announced her decision on Mark Levin’s show. And she semi endorsed Newt this week.

Then we would know who to deport to France.

And if you think Obama isn’t in the liberal camp, you need your head examined. Romney is much more conservative than Obama, but he is still not a conservative. He is a moderate and an opportunist. Gray is much lighter than black, but it still ain’t white.

Of course “us guys” aren’t happy with the prospect of President Romney. Conservatives generally disapprove of Eastern U.S liberals dressed in GOP banners who only get their conservative socks out for primaries.

The Reform Party in Canada (unfettered conservative) and Kadima (moderate party) were formed and were about as durable as morning fog. People like to their government to be supported by a majority.

A successful GOP has a conservative majority and some moderates for “padding”.

Ours is a Winner Take All system. There is no place for a major third party because there is no issue dividing the nation to the degree that slavery did in the mid 19th century. The last Third Party Candidate to win the Presidency was Abe Lincoln. Modern Third Party candidates choose that route so that they can assuage their bruised egos by denying one of the mainstream parties a victory. This was the case with “Aitch” Ross Perot and with Ralph Nadir.

It makes much more sense to pick a party and work to change it from the inside as the Tea Party movement is doing and as the Libertarian Party is doing with Ron Paul’s candidacy. You’ll get much further down the field than you will with a third party.

Mitt can win the general election. I have yet to see proof that Gingrich can.

If anything, Newt’s track record indicates he loses in a Goldwater-esq

Obama with a Democrat House and Senate would be a nightmare we would never recover from.

learning the wrong lessons from history.

Career bureaucrats against the real world types..
Half a piece sign…lol

of the Washington GOP establishment for 30 years. You don’t get any more Establishment than Speaker of the House and veteran Washington lobbyist.

That’s why he’s such an awful nominee. You can’t even sell him as a fresh face.

The Republican Party has lost its ever-loving mind. It’s a shame. The White House was there for the taking with a good candidate. Instead, they are going with a guy who doesn’t even have enough campaign to get on state ballots.

Well put.

And a spot on description of the GOP establishment.

b.o. wins. They keep their little fiefdoms and everything is still hunky-dory with them. I SPIT on them and all they represent!

.

Control above all else IS the “establishment’s” only agenda.

That will make him acceptable to a significant number of the Paul supporters, which could be key at the convention.

So, everyone who isn’t a Romneybot in Virginia go and vote for Ron Paul in the GOP primary!!! I will pass it on to my daughters who live there!

Don’t you just love the fun of politics???!!!

Presidency.

I have some connections to both men – and they are both very decent, solid individuals. People you would love to have as a relative. People you would be ;proud if they were your boss, your CEO, etc.

Smart, honorable, accomplished, disciplined men. One thing Romney has which has gotten almost no attention is he graduated with honors from the Harvard JD/MBA program – an unbelievably hard program to even get into. His intellect runs rings around Obama’s.

But we are in national peril. And we need a President who has more than a good resume and a desire to get the Ultimate Promotion. We need a President who sees clearly the peril America is in, and has solidly conservative founding Constitutionalist Principles deep in his or her (Palin) bones.

Ronald Reagan had that. Governor Perry has that. Sarah Palin has that. Romney does not. Newt sort of does. he is not the best qualified by temperament or accomplishment to be a Great President. Out of this field, Perry was. But he is the bst we have standing, and he has my full support.

is probably back in Austin flipping Romney and DC the bird…..
And laughing his ass off -

He blew up his own campaign by his pathetic debate performances and his ridiculous speeches and public statements.

You can’t win the nomination when you become a punchline and start making W look like the articulate governor from Texas.

Making the video about gays in the military while wearing the Brokeback mountain jacket? lmao it was like satire.

To fully test the theory requires a conservative LDS candidate.

but the South was just fine electing a Papist by wide margins over the only two Protestants in the race. Methinks the religion angle is overplayed.

New York Times:

One of the biggest questions for Mr. Romney has been the impact of his Mormon faith in a heavily evangelical state like South Carolina.

Voters were not asked about that explicitly in exit polls, but among those who came to vote looking for someone who shared their religious beliefs, Mr. Romney did not do well.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/lessons-from-the-south-carolina-exit-polls/

By belittlement and dismissal. This time didn’t take Newt seriously and went after Perry, even using Newt as a tool for that. They are probably confused about how their well laid plan blew up in their faces.

The elites are very afraid of the tea party, because it represents a real threat to their ability to gain and maintain power for themselves. R’s at that level are not different from D’s. They want the power in Washington, they just want to be the ones controlling it.

Both Fred!! and Perry threatened that. I’m sure the decision to go after Perry in anyway possible was made the moment he said he wanted to make Washington D.C. as inconsequential in our lives as possible. I’m not even trying to make the case that there is some kind of conspiracy, just a bunch of individual actors with the same goal.

I am backing Newt now, not without trepidation, but fully supporting him. I donated to his campaign tonight. He IS a three-legged stool conservative(although not a historically consistent one), and if he can campaign with Congressional candidates on a unified 2012 Contract with America, it may be a clean sweep for the GOP…whether that will change business as usual remains to be seen.

listen @ 14:50 to The Newt…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsqEo95ogXA
…and you will achieve surcease.

Here is the distinction that Newt needs to make.
This is not an assault on Capitalism or the Free Market, this is what Conservatives are mostly about, letting the market work, but when people screw it up or screw people over…calling them out on it. A democrat would simply like to eliminate the system all together with over-regulation.

Is the issue Bain or Venture/Investment Capitalism- No, nobody has a problem with that, except maybe the left who want Government and tax dollars investing in those companies instead of private companies. If an investment company INVESTS and loses, nobody has a problem with that or putting those losses on taxes, nobody has a problem with that.

The problem, is that it appears that Bain was often times not “risking” anything, they would come in, pump these companies up with debt, and when the companies failed, THEY DIDNT LOSE ANYTHING, THEY STILL GOT THEIRS…meanwhile the average joe in this thing lost the job, lost their stocks, etc…That is the problem people have, its not them risking their capital and being rewarded when it paid off or being able to write off a loss when it didnt, Its the fact that often times for them there was no risk, it was a gamed system.

Its the same thing with lending practices that led to financial crisis in 2008, the guys at the top who were making all the moves didnt take the hit, it was the taxpayers who had to bail them out for what they had done. Again, if EVERYONE loses when things go bad, fine. But when the system is rigged so its a “no-lose” for some, that is when people get angry.

That should be the angle Newt is approaching this thing…

They DESERVE it.

Man, I hope that happens…I would have such a good laugh and I know Scope would love it. LOL

and law enforcement types. Over here on RS, supporters of Huckabee were routinely pilloried as Huckabots! The Gov himself was routinely called the Huckster….

Huckabee was short on funds and organization to fight back against the tons of negative ads. He was accused of raising taxes in Arkansas and releasing prisoners one of whom went to another state and murdered somebody. Funny that Romney raised hundreds of millions in fees and was given a pass by the Club of Growth.

It appears that Romney was the Establishment’s candidate at that time but his preoccupation with bringing Huckabee down allowed a maverick McCain to sneak through.

It is bitter sweet that the Evangelical leaders didn’t see it fit to endorse Huckabee, a much more viable candidate than Santorum. Despite that and running on a shoestring budget, Huckabee came within 3% of winning SC. Huckabee would have fare a lot better than McCain.

BTW, it’s absurd to talk of Huntsman and Pawlenty as ‘small govt’ and Santorum as ‘big govt’ when Santorum NEVER fell for the global warming BS, but Pawlenty had to walk back his global warming support, and Huntsman dissed the conservative base on this. Neither candidate was proposing more in spending reductions than Santorum.

If they were better conservatives, they would have been more than asterisks in support.

boring, uninspiring, flat, phony. Not gonna get it done this time around.

Really should be “Paulturd”.

of that incompetent fool or his POS followers. We just grow tired of hearing from so many low IQ idiot paultards such as yourself and the nasty sh*t smell you bring with you everywhere you go.

As to the establishment or the so called establishment, I doubt anything Ron Paul crosses their mind. He is nothing more than a joke and not a good one at that.

,

The only state that I know of is Virginia!