Free Republic

Casino titan Sheldon Adelson, who has almost single-handedly bankrolled a "super PAC" backing Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign, now believes Gingrich is "at the end of his line.".... Speaking to a group outside his Las Vegas hotel and casino, The Venetian, Adelson earlier this week criticized GOP front-runner Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, but acknowledged that his preferred candidate has little hope of becoming the nominee.... 'Cause, I mean, mathematically, he can't get anywhere near the numbers, and there's not - unlikely there'll be a brokered convention." Adelson, along with his wife and children, has donated $16.5 million to Winning Our...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, after three days of arguments on President Obama's healthcare overhaul, appeared ready to strike down not just the requirement that individuals have insurance, but the entire law, invalidating a major piece of domestic legislation for the first time since the Depression. That prospect, unthinkable to many experts as recently as last week, will not be certain until the justices rule on the case, probably in June. But the electric set of arguments that ended Wednesday revealed profound skepticism about the law by the court's five-member conservative majority, which appeared openly hostile to its scheme for...

Newt Gingrich is cutting back his campaign schedule, will lay off about a third of his cash-strapped campaign’s full-time staff, and has replaced his manager as part of what aides are calling a “big-choice convention” strategy, communications director Joe DeSantis told POLITICO. Michael Krull, a former advance man and a college friend of Callista Gingrich’s who took over the campaign after a staff exodus in June, was replaced last weekend by Vince Haley, who has worked for Gingrich for nine years and currently is deputy campaign manager and policy director. “We’re focusing exclusively on what it’ll take to win what...

A quick glance at the map might tempt you into thinking that the Republican nomination is roughly an even battle between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, with Mr. Romney tending to prevail in the Northeast and the West, and Mr. Santorum in the Midwest and the South. Do the math, however, and you’ll find that the nomination isn’t all that close. Mr. Romney hasn’t done that well in the South — but he also hasn’t been shut out there, winning Florida and its 50 winner-take-all delegates, and Virginia, where only Ron Paul was on the ballot alongside him. The Southern...

In all likelihood Mitt Romney will manage to win the necessary 1144 delegates, pre-convention, to win the GOP presidential nomination. So what I am about to write about Rick Santorum has to be seen in this context. In no way shape or form am I hyping Santorum's chances to prevail in the end, but only trying to reflect what is now happening on the ground and how that may impact the lay of the land going forward to put some temporary roadblocks in the path of Romney winning the nomination. Having said that Rick Santorum's odds of stopping Romney from...

It was unbelievable: After Newt Gingrich failed to win both Alabama and Mississippi in the GOP race for president, most members of the mainstream media and political strategists with whom I talked readily admitted, off the record, that he was the most qualified among the Republican candidates to serve as president. Now these are objective pros that have been around presidential politics for years. I have no doubt they were telling me the truth because these folks only tell you this stuff when it is relatively clear that the candidate is no longer a viable alternative. Best on foreign policy...

Gingrich Calls Political System Stupid, Vows To Stay In The Race By NBC's Alex Moe PALATINE, Ill. – Hours after finishing a disappointing second place in both the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, Newt Gingrich marched his campaign onward, vowing he is “staying in the race.” Campaigning in Illinois on Wednesday, Gingrich made little mention of the two contests he had hoped to win in the South. He instead focused his speeches on the big ideas that drive his campaign, explaining that many people just don’t understand what needs to be done to help change the country. “The thing I find...

Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich mixed words of encouragement with his political message in an assembly at Barrington High School Thursday. Gingrich became the third presidential candidate to visit Barrington High School in its history. With his statewide headquarters at 1000 Hart Road, around the corner from the high school, supporters turned out Thursday in force. And following John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama, Gingrich on Thursday combined national politics with advice to students as he addressed the auditorium of about 350 mostly social studies students and about 350 local residents. Sometimes bordering on a commencement speech, Gingrich used examples from...

PALATINE, Ill.--Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on late Wednesday expressed frustration with both the news media and the Republican establishment for failing to understand his “large ideas” for transforming American politics. As calls for Gingrich to bow out of the race grew louder after his second-place finishes in Mississippi and Alabama--two states he said he had a chance to win--the candidate seemed to be in low spirits and offered a grumpy analysis of the state of the GOP primary to a crowd that gathered for a Lincoln Day dinner in this northwestern suburb of Chicago. “The thing I find most disheartening...

Newt Gingrich says, "Between us, Santorum and I are stopping Romney."

It might be one of the biggest issues in the upcoming presidential election. Last night, CBS News exit polls found 77 percent of those voting in seven Super Tuesday states say rising gas prices were an important factor in their vote. The poll reflects growing consumer anxiety as gas prices have risen nearly 50 cents a gallon in just over two months. Consumers have been telling us they are cutting corners because for most driving is a necessity. In Minnesota the average price is 3-58. The current national average for a gallon of regular is 3-76, but some analysts are...

It's all very disappointing. Based on polls, It appears Newt Gingrich is not likely to be the nominee. But why? He is (in my mind) the most qualified man in the country to be President. He's the most knowledgeable and articulate candidate and, without question, the best debater in either party. Everyone knows he would obliterate Obama in a debate. He has the best and boldest ideas to get this country back on track. And I think that he would, by his sheer brilliance, and ability to put forth a convincing argument, garner enough independents to vote for him to...

...."This is going to go on for a good while," the former House speaker said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," one of several Washington talk shows Gingrich visited in the run-up to Super Tuesday. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may outspend the rest of the GOP field "by multiples," Gingrich said, but "he's not a very convincing front-runner and he's a long way from having closed out this race." Gingrich said he expects to win Georgia, the largest of the states voting in Tuesday's nationwide sweepstakes, and to do so by more than Romney's narrow victory Tuesday in...

UPDATED: COLUMBUS, Ohio — Even if Rick Santorum wins Ohio on Super Tuesday, he won’t be able to claim all of its delegates. In fact, he is at risk of forfeiting more than one-quarter of them. In three of the state’s 16 congressional districts, including two that are near Ohio’s border with Pennsylvania, Santorum will lose any delegates he might have won because his campaign failed to meet the state’s eligibility requirements months ago. Those three districts alone take 9 delegates out of a total of 66 off the table for Santorum. But it gets worse: Nine more Ohio delegates...

Rasmussen corroborates the Q-poll from earlier today showing that Mitt Romney has made up significant ground on Rick Santorum in the key Super Tuesday state of Ohio. While Quinnipiac conducted its survey from Tuesday through Thursday this week, Rasmussen conducted its survey of 750 likely voters entirely yesterday. Two weeks after being 18 points behind Santorum in Ohio, Rasmussen now has him within two: The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Primary Voters in Ohio, taken last night, shows former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum attracting 33% of the vote and Mitt Romney earning 31%. ThatÂ’s a significant tightening of...

..."I guess about the only way I can describe him is unlike any politician we had ever encountered," Reed said. "He would come in, speak to your group, keynote the banquet and afterward go to the suite and stay up until the wee hours of the morning talking strategy with you." A generation of Republican politicians recalls listening to cassette tapes featuring Gingrich's talking points as they drove to campaign stops, and dialing in to weekly national conference calls to hear his advice on how to sell conservative programs back home. "He changed the whole formula here. Candidates were starving...

Apparently against steep odds, Newt Gingrich has been trying to expand his Georgia political base north into Tennessee. The Republican presidential candidate, who has a wide lead in Georgia in two recent polls, is striving for a strong showing in the Volunteer State. It, like Georgia, is one of 11 states with primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, and its 58 delegates are the third-biggest prize up for grabs. Of the “Super Tuesday” states, only Georgia, with 76 delegates, and Ohio, with 66, are more delegate-rich. Gingrich, a former Georgia congressman and House speaker, has largely written off Ohio in favor...

Despite Mitt Romney's victories in Arizona and Michigan on Tuesday, Rick Santorum is still bullish on his chances to win the Republican nomination. In an interview Wednesday on my radio show, "Morning In America," Santorum counted Michigan as a win of his own. "If you look at the entire state (of Michigan)," he said, "we won most of the counties. We won half of the congressional districts, which means we won half the delegates here." He went on to explain why he thinks Romney's success isn't what it seems to be: "I think the big reason we lost is because...

It’s crunch time. I am not going to sugarcoat the news for conservatives. Hate me all you want, but Republicans have just about picked their nominee. Forget these headlines such as Paul Belaga’s “Romney Wins Michigan and Arizona, but Political Tourette’s Is Costing Him” or CNN‘s “Romney survives Michigan as all eyes turn to Super Tuesday” or the New York Daily News‘s “Mitt Romney avoids Michigan disaster, but has ‘blood on him’ heading into Super Tuesday: experts.” God does not roll dice with the universe, and neither does the Republican Party. I am looking at the plurality wins in Arizona...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Newt Gingrich will not campaign in Michigan in advance of next Tuesday's primary there: Spokesman R.C. Hammond confirmed Monday night that the campaign is scrapping tentative plans to travel to Michigan at the end of the week ahead of the state’s Feb. 28 primary. Gingrich is spending Tuesday and Wednesday in the other Feb. 28 primary — Arizona — but that is mostly for the sake of Wednesday night’s debate, and his public schedule will be light.