Newt Needs Cain to Hang Around

...The trouble for Gingrich is that Cain isn’t doing what Perry is and hanging on. Cain maintained his Real Clear Politics Average high-point of 26 percent, essentially tied with Mitt Romney, for only two weeks. And he may go front frontrunner to hash mark in less than a month.

Gingrich would have been better off if Cain’s candidacy would have slowly withered. Gingrich wants to be in a two-way race with Romney and to have only to appear more conservative and more consistent than Romney.

Gingrich might survive daily releases of new skeletons from his past...[snip]....But only if juxtaposed as a binary choice with Romney.

Gingrich the known commodity looks good when the only other contender on the right is the rotting hulk of the Cain campaign, but if Cain is out of the picture..there’s still time for conservatives to reconsider their pick.

With Cain leaving...there is a chance that some other candidate will rise, or rise again, to rival Gingrich. It could be Rick Santorum’s turn on the horse or perhaps the start of a strange new romance among some conservatives for Jon Huntsman, whom many seem to think is more consistent than Gingrich and more conservative than Romney. And for those resigned to a Romney nomination, a protest vote for Ron Paul may look increasingly attractive.

But Perry looks like the best bet to challenge Gingrich. He’s got the money and the personnel and, thanks to being the governor of the state with the most Republicans, has a pretty durable core of national support. He may be too badly damaged by his debate blunders and the Social Security scare tactics employed by the Romney campaign to make it stick, but Perry looks to be the guy who will give Gingrich a run for his money.

Perry lacks essential skills?

I don’t think so. He’s actually run a state, a large state for 11 years quite skillfully.

If you mean debating skills, Perry’s mouth doesn’t run a mile a minute but he expresses himself extremely well in all his interviews. Contrast his interview with Brett Baiar with that of Romney.

Romney got testy, couldn’t take the heat and whined later.

Rick was calm and genial and answered every question honestly and well.

Now, Gingrich has the mouth, but that mouth can get him into trouble as quickly as it got him into national contention. He’s smart and I like him, but he has political A.D.D. He has a million ideas but he has a problem with consistency and focus.

Not dissin’ Newt completely, but Rick is the better man.

So far we’ve had several rise to the top only to fall. We had Sarah, who backed out of running.

We had Cain who self-destructed.

We’ve got Romney whose numbers are decent but haven’t moved.

If Perry could just get a big bump somehow, I think he could bring it home.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.