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 ...
As VP Santorum would be in an excellent position to run for President in four or eight years. Newt is near retirement age and may chose to step down after four. It certainly would be a very stressful four years.
Think if that is a possibility they should announce the partnership now and not wait for convention.
Other thought: It would merge the Southern vote with NE.
OTOH if Santorium were AG he could serve his country by cleaning up that department. He has the law background.
I watched this speech/q&a on cspan. Santorum’s not nearly as strong as Newt to go head to head with BHO. But I’d put him up against Biden. Newt’s by far the strongest. And when you look past the social issues, Santorum has NOT been known for smaller government.
Let’s let the clean family man win for a change.
And once before, in 1976.
(That would be Obama and Carter) Get the message?
Let’s let the clean family man win for a change.
Wow ! That’s quite a list.
Thank you for posting it.
LOL That's a delusion. His movement in the polls has been within margin of error. He's shown that he's not the wise elder statesman who has grown since the 90's. America has had three years of someone who has been a professor and a legislator. We're ready for a leader.
Good comeback.
I seriously see nothing but positives if Newt and Santorum join forces. I hadn’t thought about how it would effect the South and NE. What a plus!
Also will unite the Evangelical and the Catholics.
Agreed, but I think conservatives outnumber the RINOs and should DEMAND that Romney, Paul, and Huntsman do not represent our values or the platform of the party. But notice who are pushing the others out...the least desirable of the bunch.
One problem with that theory...Don’t they both currently reside in Virginia???
Yes, “these people” want it to be Mittens and RP so that Mitt wins after ALL but he and RP have been forced out. So yes, the weaker ones need to clear the way for the strongest rival of BHO - unless we want to get stuck with Romney (hence BHO again).
There will be other years for Santorum and Perry, but not this year. They’re just not up to the heat of the hellish Obama machine.
It could be that Sarah herself doesn’t want to endorse one over the other, but considering her husband knows her feelings, don’t you think it means a lot that Todd called and endorsed Newt???
Ain’t gonna happen.
That may be why Todd called Newt and endorsed him. I’m sure he knows Sarah’s preference.
Best news I have heard in a long time.
Cage fight! Two walk in, one walks out....
And shoot the supporters of the loser......
Are you saying that all the winner take all states have changed?? My state (MO) is one.
But Newt wants the legacy of undoing as many radical things BHO did as possible. That will make him every bit as historic as BHO.
Perry can’t “hold off” Santorum. And the ONLY one both Perry and Santorum are hurting by staying in is NEWT.
Romney’s loving it. Same goes for RuPaul. He’s Mittens’ stalking horse.
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