Newt's "baggage" was all on him. He had a history just like Romney, but considerably sleazier.
The point is that Romney is no Mr. Nice Guy especially when dealing with conservatives. He used everything he could exploit to beat a conservative. But when it came to running against a liberal, Mitt gets all sweet and dewy eyed, conning some into thinking he was a “nice” guy.
This tendency to love on liberals while trashing every conservative showed up time and again. Just think about Mitt’s adverse reaction to Chick-fil-a day. If it’s conservative, it’s no good, but if it’s liberal kiss its butt, does not play to conservatives.
But that has always been liberal Mitt’s problem.