Posted on 01/13/2012 9:39:30 PM PST by Steelfish
January 13, 2012 Gingrich and Santorum Vie to Be the Conservative of Choice By RICHARD A. OPPEL JR.
DUNCAN, S.C. — Conventional wisdom dictates that for either Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum to vault past Mitt Romney and win the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21, they must handily win the vote of upstate social conservatives, like the ones who packed a high school lunchroom here Friday night. But if the reactions of the 500 or so people here were any indication, these voters remain split.
Mr. Gingrich, a former House speaker, asked the crowd to vote for him because he is the only candidate, he suggested, who can both outperform President Obama in a debate and provide a clear enough conservative break with Mr. Obama’s policies, making him a safer choice to win the general election.
“If Barack Obama, with the disaster he has been, can get re-elected, the level of radicalism he will impose in his second term will be beyond anything you can imagine,” Mr. Gingrich said. “Defeating him is central to everything we are doing.”
He added that if he won both this state and Florida’s primary at the end of the month, he would have the momentum he needed to win the nomination. And in what seemed to be a veiled swipe at the front-runner, Mr. Romney, he warned that conservatives might split their vote. If that happens, he said to applause, “we are going to stumble into nominating somebody that 95 percent of the people in this room are going to be very uncomfortable with.”
Mr. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, likened himself to Ronald Reagan, and called on voters to make him the winner of their primary, as they did for Mr. Reagan in 1980.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com ...
They need to sit down and have a talk. Newt as President and Rick can choose VP and run next or clean up the AG dept.
Bravo! Newt needs to get out. He carries too much baggage and is un-telegenic. According to CNN, in S. Carolina, Newt is winning the male vote against Romney but is losing in spades the female vote to Romney.
It is what it is.
Romney just might squeak by with a 3-way split vote: Gingrich Santorum and Perry. Everyone knows he’s counting on it.
Neither will drop out and certainly not Newt Gingrich who has worked hard to put together real solutions for the radical changes necessary to save and restore our Republic.
Santorum would not be in the race, save for Iowa and Romney/Paul’s scorched earth attack ads against Gingrich when Gingrich was running away with the nomination.
“They need to sit down and have a talk. Newt as President and Rick can choose VP and run next or clean up the AG dept.”
You couldn’t be more correct.....
A POTUS/VP - Gingrich/Santorum or Santorum/Gingrich would win the primary and general big.
Git’r done now gentlemen.
I don’t think Santorum is that realistic or interested at this point. He’s still riding his Iowa high on those caucus votes. He’s forgotten that a losing senator from PA probably isn’t the strongest candidate for national office.
who?
It's early yet, no one need "drop out" unless these people, like Mitt, wish it to be between Mitt and Paul so that Mitt can win as "the conservative" in the race.
“like Mitt, wish it to be between Mitt and Paul so that Mitt can win as “the conservative” in the race.”
Yes, Mitt and Paul are both conservatives.
And those other two loser senators, Obama & McCain.
Thankfully we’ll all be dead before another senator is elected POTUS.
It took 48 years last time to learn the lesson.
Ithink that’s right, Onyx. Newt is on stride with his new populist/Tea Party message- Santorum may be fading. I say that only because he’s now attacking Newt.
But, the only sure road to victory, is if Sarah gets off the mark-and jumps in to support. I can see her doing it. But, of course, she doesn’t want to back a loser. So, I think, if she does endorse, she’ll want to see a trend first.
Santorum lost his US Senate race in PA by 17 or 18 points to the democrat Bob Casey. I don’t believe he’s the strongest candidate to head the GOP ticket.
I was at the event tonight.
Santorum went around the room shaking hands like he didnt care if he was in the room or not. Not even a smile or a thank you for coming.
That does not sit well with me...
Hey native sunflower,
Mitt’s delusional. Newt is delusional as well.
Right. Senators are likely the worst officeholders to put into the presidency.
I am hesitant about Sarah Palin. More and more, I am thinking her contract with Faux, might prohibit her from endorsing, given that she is a paid political contributor.
I know that both Hannity and Greta continue to pose the endorsement question to her, so that leaves me puzzled...!
“Santorum lost his US Senate race in PA by 17 or 18 points to the democrat Bob Casey. I don’t believe he’s the strongest candidate to head the GOP ticket.”
Therefore we must back/endorse “Mrit Romnry”.
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