GOP guru Steve Schmidt: exit polls suggest Perry, Bachmann no longer “plausible”

SFGate: Politics Blog ^ | 1/3/12 | Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer

[SmithL]

GOP political consultant Steve Schmidt, one of the toughest guys in the business and the guru behind the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign, said that early polls suggest Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann are likely no longer “plausible” candidates after tonight.

And he told MSNBC it increasingly looks like former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum “may well emerge as the chief alternative to Mitt Romney.”

With Santorum showing strong in early exit polls, Schmidt — an MSNBC analyst — told the network moments ago that Santorum is “going to have to make a lot of decisions very quickly if he comes out on top tonight..he’s going to have to be drinking water out of a fire hose.”

[Ann Archy]

Mark McKinnon!!! That’s the OTHER creep that EVERY conservative must stay away from!!

[pulaskibush]

A few days ago, Gingrich was to own Iowa, followed by Romney. The rest really didn't matter. Here are the numbers from a Reuters story on Dec 12th of those likely to vote in the Iowa caucuses:

Gingrich 29.8% Mitt Romney, 20.3%, Ron Paul 10.7%. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachman 8.5%, Rick Perry 8.2%. Since he didn't buy enough ads or hire enough ex/future media people from PR firms, and is a conservative that can win with conservative volunteers, Rick Santorum wasn't worth mentioning. Pat Caddell said that Santorum was in single digits a week before 01/03/12! Keep that in mind as you see the election results:

Santorum & Romney 25%, Paul 21%, Gingrich 13% Perry 10% Bachmann 5% Huntsman 1%.

The pollsters are rigging this election to whoever they think will buy the most ads/can be beat by Obama, Romney and Gingrich. The massive 40% undecided vote wasn't even mentioned until Sunday and has yet to be mentioned for New Hampshire, S. Carolina, Super Tuesday States, or any other state. Is there is a reason to trust a pundit claiming a candidate is "finished" after this "surprise"?

[pulaskibush]

Is there a website where we can see how much money each candidate spent in Iowa, or even more important, how much money the media/PR firms made of ex media managed to make off of candidates via ads?

[zerosix]

I agree with your comments.

As to Schmidt, he does remind me of another consultant, who gave advice to a candidate friend of mine in the '08 election (the candidate lost - on the basis of the "advice" from this consultant.)

The basic advice to my conservative friend was NOT to look conservative and say very little that might offend an "independent or moderate."

This candidate wound up looking to Casper Milquetoast, standing for absolutely nothing but looked good in a photo, smiled and had a good-looking family! Those of us who know him, were baffled at his campaign and wondered why he didn't mention his accomplishments - of which there are numerous.

As to Iowa, they are a neighboring state but I like you care merely for the exposure of the candidates, especially Santorum. I also think that he may win in SC and even come in well in NH!

I could just shoot the "establishment" types out there doing a job on him as well as all non-Romney conservatives (they seem to push Paul as the anti-Romney candidate to beat, pretending that makes Romney look "conservative!"

[NKP_Vet]

“Thanks, Newbie, but Santorum can DEFINITELY win in the south”

No way. He gets out of the race after SC and endorses his
mentor Professor Gingrich.

[Ann Archy]

Soooo, who are you for??

[NKP_Vet]

I’m for Newt all the way. He’s the only one running that has actually governed on national scale and made thing happen for the good of America.

[SunkenCiv]

Carla Marinucci, SF Chronicle Concern Troll. Thanks SmithL. The meme-building by the partisan media shills includes the “alternative to Mitt Romney”, which is a subtle way of building on the idea that it’s Romney’s race to lose.