Posted on 03/16/2012 3:46:57 PM PDT by Steelfish
MARCH 16, 2012 Tampa Tempest Newt Gingrich Plots Convention Chaos. By Robert Costa
As he waited for the returns on Tuesday, Newt Gingrich didn’t pay much attention to the soft flicker of Fox News. Instead, as he sat with his family and a few aides in a suite at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, Ala., he was quietly glued to his BlackBerry, thumbing his way through e-mails. He was mostly cheerful, according to those in the room. He reminisced about campaigns past with his daughters. He reviewed his schedule; he bantered with his wife, Callista; he settled on a purple tie. As he sipped a Diet Coke, he casually prepared for his evening speech.
The takeaway from the relative calm was clear: This was just another night in another city. He’d make his extemporaneous remarks, his aides would pack their bags, and within a few hours, they’d board a plane and head to the next battleground.
“He never discussed dropping out, not even a whisper,” says one Gingrich staffer. “It was business as usual.” His youngest daughter, Jackie Cushman, concurs. “It was never tense,” she says. “People forget that he’s been running since 1974. He doesn’t get anxious.” Downstairs, the scene was more apprehensive. There was a dwindling crowd of Newt enthusiasts. After the networks declared Rick Santorum the winner of both Alabama and Mississippi, Beltway scribes began to write the campaign’s obituary. (snip)
Days later, that consensus remains. Gingrich is committed to staying in the race until the convention, according to his advisers. He believes that there will be chaos within the party come August, and that — with a bit of luck, a clever floor strategy, and a powerful speech — he could build a winning coalition.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Newt must be doing something right!
Chaos? Do you really think this is Newt’s fault?
What about the RINOs who are force feeding Nitt Witt Mitt?
Blood on the floor during the convention? Bit of an overstatement.
Have you ever thought about the effect of delaying the selection process on Obozo’s ability to counter whoever we wind up with as the nominee?
Mitt is a looser.
Newt is brilliant, but often a loose cannon.
Santorum, is personally clean but relatively inexperienced at this level. (might not be that big an obstacle if he chose well the staff to help him.)
If there is blame for this, I blame the leadership within the GOP.
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His colleagues forced him from his House Speakership.
Maybe he can add to his resume his colleagues forcing him out of the 2012 presidential convention, as well.
Chaos? More like restoring sanity to the GOP. I can already feel buyer’s remorse starting to set in, maybe Newt can save these Santorum, Romney voters from themselves.
Seems pretty risky to me.
This whole piece is just to get the factions other than Mitt to continue fighting.
This is going to be over once it is mathematically impossible for Santorum. It is already impossible for Newt.
Newt’s moneyman Addelson will pull the plug once it is no longer feasible for Santorum. Why pay for someone who cannot win? The same will happen with Ricks money guy.
This is a short time in coming. After that, Romney will sail to the delegates he needs to win.
Even if they go to a convention, they have Romney covered.
All of this is a mere inconvenience for them.
Gingrich is either trying to SAVE America, or he’s working with the enemy behind the scenes to help KILL IT. At this point I’m not sure which.
Hi Steelfish-
I know the subtitle isn't yours; however, for the record it is totally dishonest ...there's absolutely nothing in the article that says Newt is “plotting chaos.” What it says is that Newt believes he has a plan that will unite the GOP should chaos occur ...which he believes is inevitable given Romney's lack of support within the base.
Thx for the article ...it's actually pretty good and uplifting for us “Newties” as we are sometimes referred to (lovingly, I am sure). (grin)
HELL YES! Exactly what we need to get the rino pricks and the Good Ole Boys Club establishment panties in a wad! Conservatives need to open up an industrial strength can of WHOOP ASS on these Pansies!
Obama couldn't beat my garbage collector at this point! Go tell that flip flopin fake lying flake POS Romney to KMA!
Thank you, NEWT, raise the roof and bring the whole sick sorted mess crashing down!!
CHAOS:
noun; Actual Republicans getting a chance to select their nominee. For once.
They are doing it now - lots of lies/backstabbing against NEWT from the mitt/rick team.
You are very correct, some here are still ignorant about how futile this has become for everybody but a Romney supporter, that is.
If there's one thing NEWT knows it's HISTORY. Newt will use this knowledge to his advantage. He might not win but he will cahnge things for the better! This is a grand, perfect opportunity and I say a little rabble rouse, inter-party civil war is needed to save our great country!
judge not lest ye be judged
The longer we have more than one candidate running, the more chaos it is for the Democrats.
Imagine...they actually have to use their smear machine against not just one guy, but 3. That takes a lot more time, money and resources, than just going after ONE.
I say, have them ALL stay in until the last minute...makes the Dems sweat.
As well, the more our candidates vet each other, the more we KNOW our candidate.
Just my $.02
If Mitt wasn’t in this race none of this would be necessary.
I don’t why everyone blames the GOP “leadership,” whatever that is. If you don’t like the way the primaries are shaping up you should blame the VOTERS. Geesh.
More like sour grapes by the official spoiler in the race. True to his description as a “Hindenberg ready to explode,” Gingrich is now on stage displaying all of the qualities of an erratic and crippled boar thrashing around the land that will make for an Obama God-send. If he quitted after Santorum’s spectacular Trifecta, Santorum would likely have carried WA, MI, and OH and the Romney candidacy would have been reduced to ashes. Gingrich with baggage heavy enough to sink a cruise ship, now needs to do the honorable thing and do what Bachman, Cain, and Perry did before him, to withdraw from the race. Enough of this ego. It’s going to come back to bite him in the back.
There are at least 3 “superdelegates” for each state. Those are usually 3 people high in the the GOP heirarchy in the state. In some states, they are obligated to pledge to the winner of the state primary. In other states they are free to pledge to whoever they wish.
What do you bet than when this whole game was set up, they figured for Romney. I bet the states where they are pledged to the winner, are states that favor Romney. They will be free to choose in states where they knew it would be tougher for Romney. LOL
What a scam.
Newt must stay in the race till the end. If Newt quits, Romney will end up getting more delegates.
Your hyperbole aside, I frankly think that either having a one-day, nationwide, closed primary or simply choosing the nominee at the convention are both better alternatives than what we have now, which is to have the primary season strung out over five money-wasting months and have a large share of the people voting end up wasting their vote because their candidate drops out early, etc. etc.
So you are for a fractured free-for-all topsy-turvy convention? Even Obama could not have hoped and prayed for this much of luck.
They think that Romney has put such an emphasis on the math that he could be vulnerable should he begin to stumble.
Newt's strategy going forward is based on Romney "stumbling" or "collapsing." ON THE CURRENT TRAJECTORY the numbers and type of states remaining to vote indicate Romney is going get over the hump of 1,144, probably in June.
The only potential shake-up is if all the votes go to ONE conservative, and he is able to shut Romney out by performing about as well in the "winner-take-all" contests as Newt and Rick's current votes combined would amount to.
If Newt wants to be a player at a contested convention, one of the only things he can do is figure out how to get all his voters to vote for Santorum from now on. Because there won't be a contested convention otherwise, unless that dramatic Romney collapse comes out of nowhere.
With the GOP Convention sucking all the air out of the room, Dumplin Ears will not be pleased.
People do not vote based on which party had the calmest convention.
The formerly great National Review says “Plans Convention Chaos”;
Decent conservatives say “plans struggle for the soul of the Party”.
National Review and the Romneyites seem to be descending into desperation. May they continue sinking into the quicksands of their desperation. If Jesus came back and took the nomination away from him, Romney WOULD NOT support Jesus in the general election.
Good grief. You act like having a convention be what conventions were actually intended to be once upon a time would be like Armageddon or something.
Sheesh. Candidates will make their speeches. Delegates will vote, vote again, vote again, go get some drinks, vote again, vote again, take a pool break, vote again, vote again, and finally end up settling on somebody.
I don’t know...I saw obama and biteMe trying to attack the Republicans and they look like babies because they have to attack all 3. They can’t take one stand against a single person. This is going to turn traditional wisdom on its head where they think you need the nomination locked up early. Let them fight it out and keep the rats guessing on who they have to unload on.
I just wish they all 3 would attack obama a bit more.
I like it!
It’s about damn time that the Republican snobs feel the wrath of the conservatives in a face to face faceoff!
May Newt teach those fat bastards a thing or two about confrontation!!!
That’s nonsense. Due to the various funky winner-take-all and threshold rules in the states, Santorum would have a better shot in states with almost 2/3rds of the delegates without Newt in the race than he would with Newt in the race. Case in point, in AL and MI, Santorum would have gotten all of Newt’s delegates and taken between 11-17 of Romney’s away with Newt out of the race.
Anyone who hasn’t ANALYZED THE MATH of delegates and the specific state allocation rules can only make totally worthless comments as to who would get more delegates under different conditions. If you have analyzed the math, show us your calculations. Otherwise, your comments are beyond useless and are counterproductive.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2859712/posts
I just wish our convention was AFTER the rats this year. Can you image who they’d attack at theirs?
That’s a good analysis you make. I believe if a candidate withdraws, the delegates acquired up to that point are no longer committed and may choose to join any camp. During last Tuesday’s primaries, John King of CNN sketched a hypothetical albeit rosy scenario on his electronic tally board, where if Gingrich does withdraw now, Santorum’s numbers could move up whereby he is within catch-up distance of Romney. If Gingrich, on the other hand remains in the race, this is simply not a possibility.
Although the CA primary with delegates allotted based on district voting is on June 05th, with Romney leading Santorum by some 20 points (and if this holds), it should be all over by June. Thus you make a good point that mathematically, barring “an act of God” Romney should have the delegate magic by June.
Oh yeah? Tell that to the Democrats in 1968
Whether or not Newt does the right thing by being a kingmaker, he will probably be marginalized anyway from now on. His money is all but gone and his supporters are jumping ship.
Hoping it’s not too late. Santorum is going to have to work that much harder and so will we!
A hectic, contested convention that keeps Romney from the nomination is better than smooth sailing for the flipper.
Right now Gingrich and Santorum tag-teaming are doing more to keep it from Romney than if Gingrich were to drop out. Later, when we get to winner-take-all states that likely won’t be true. But for Gingrich to campaign hard now and then simply suspend his campaigning late while holding onto his delegates, if he doesn’t overtake Santorum again somehow, is probably the best thing.
Go Newt! Obama’s dream come true would be Santorum, who is lame, an Establishment guy, not very knowledgeable and a lousy speaker. I think he’d like Santorum even better than Romney as a so-called “opponent.”
The only person Obama has been singling out for criticism is Gingrich, and that shows you who’s getting his goat. And it its not Mr. Preacher Man Rick.
Like Giuliani’s Florida strategy, newt’s “chaos at the convention” strategy is born out of a realistic interpretation of facts on the ground. He’s losing in state after state. Right now his strategic options are very few. Hes counting on reading the tea leaves correctly with the state of the campaign come August. He’s probably reasoned that its the best chance he has....or the only option left.
Thank you! With all the vapors going on around here I’m thinking Free Republic needs to come equipped with smelling salts!
Please explain to us why in the recent Rasmussen Poll, Santorum leads Obama in four crucial states? Simply throwing off the same old off-the-cuff anti-Santorum diatribes is of no help to a productive discussion. Show us numbers, stats, facts etc.
That “once upon time” qualification is apt. In the full glare of the modern media age, the bloodied arena will leave the emerging candidate with wounds so crippling, that he becomes a mere pushover for his opponent who will be appearing fresh and strong, above the fray, looking presidential, and covered in wallops of fawning media coverage. And you don’t think this is a recipe for Republican disaster!
>>The only person Obama has been singling out for criticism is Gingrich, and that shows you who’s getting his goat. And it its not Mr. Preacher Man Rick.
..and he did that again today. Even Biden went after Newt.
Things like this make me happy that I huff inhalants!!!
Last sentence of the article:
“If nobody gets this thing on the first ballot, all hell will start breaking loose. If you start to think about who wins debates, and then think about Gingrich getting up there, in that moment, talking about his life and why he should be president of the United States, you can see it.”
I can see it. Go Newt!
You're a sponge for Democrat Media propaganda.
You just soak it up.
It's unlikely Reagan would have ever been nominated had either of those scenarios been in effect.
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