Posted on 01/21/2012 3:41:45 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
TAMPA — Mitt Romney on Friday wouldn't commit to Florida's first 2012 presidential primary debate, further upending a campaign that has swung from perfunctory to unsettled in a span of 48 hours.
Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said the campaign had "no announcements" on the Monday night debate, which is being hosted by the Tampa Bay Times, NBC News, National Journal and the Florida Council of 100.
Romney probably will decide whether to participate and under what terms after today's primary in South Carolina. Polls there show he now trails Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich pounced on the indecisiveness while campaigning in Orangeburg, S.C., saying that if Romney didn't show, it would "become a running joke."
"Romney can't claim that he's prepared to debate (President Barack) Obama if he's not prepared to debate Newt Gingrich," the former House speaker said. "So I'm confident he'll be there Monday night."
NBC officials said planning for the 9 p.m. debate set on the Tampa campus of the University of South Florida was continuing.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
Ooooops!
Soooory, stuck key?
Florida voters will perceive Romney avoiding debates as serious weakness that goes to the heart of electability.
I certainly would.
If Romney’s afraid to get in the ring, then why would I want him to be my main contender against Obama?
Fear is fear, and Romney fear is still fear.
Voters in South Carolina & Virginia need to not forget whom their governors supported either. The Tea Party was a major factor in both of these turncoats elections, and both of them have dumped on those supporters. The “GOP Establishment” problem won’t be solved until the party rank and file start holding people like Haley and McDonnell accountable!
Watch for Newt's “unexpected surge” as the vote gets closer....Bogus polls have to be close to right on voting day....
U heard it here 1st!
I think he might figure he can flood the state with advertising and without a debate Newt really doesn't have the resources to respond. It's probably a good strategy on Mitt's part. He's getting killed in the debates and Newt is looking like superman.
Romney said this morning he was doing both Florida debates next week.
I agree that the debates are lopsidedly in Newt’s favor, but NOT doing a debate does make Romney look afraid and it could undercut everything his advertising has hoped to accomplish.
Newt would have to run ads to get the point across, but there’s no doubt that Romney’s reason would be fear of debates.
How could a sane Republican want to vote for a guy to be the one to oust Obama when he’s afraid to get in the ring and debate?
Also, and this isn’t a small point, it would be a disrespecting of Florida, our 4th largest state, for Romney to say to them “You aren’t good enough to get the full package.”
I think a simple “Romney in Fear” ad would destroy him in Florida.
LOL, Mitt will go as far as manipulating NBC to cancel since he wanted out...
I think some upper echelon E boys gave him the call and advised him that he will do the debate.
That would have caused a major REVOLT.
It would be interesting to see Talk Radio defend Romney's decision not to debate.
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpps/news/romney-commits-to-two-fla-debates-dpgonc-km-20120121_17260498
Mitt Romney said Saturday he will participate in two Florida debates next week after previously waffling about whether he would attend, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be doing the debate on Monday,” Romney said as he stopped by his campaign’s headquarters in Greenville, S.C.............
Hmmm.... very weird.
“Osama will be shuckin’ and jivin’ and making all kinds of excuses why he can’t debate Newt.”
I’ve always believed that Hussein will NEVER agree to debate Newt. So I hope we’re not hanging all of our hopes on that particular showdown, because it’ll never happen. Debating is Newt’s strength, but if there won’t be one between him and Hussein, that’s going to be a problem. (This is all assuming that Newt wins the GOP primary.)
Currently Romney has a double digit lead over Gingrich in FL.
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Gingrich staff would hire someone in a chicken suit to follow Mitt and mock him if he doesn’t show up monday.
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