Posted on 02/15/2012 7:09:46 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Via BuzzFeed. As expected, they’re going hard after his fiscal heresies. I’m giving you Santorum’s new ad here too, which is noteworthy first because he touts his tea-party cred (ironic) and second because he’s now making electability a core component of his pitch. No other Not Romney has been in that position before — but the numbers do back him up, for now:
One thing that has remained constant in the ever changing GOP Presidential race is that Mitt Romney is the strongest candidate against Barack Obama…at least until now. PPP’s newest national poll finds Romney trailing Obama by 7 points at 49-42, while Santorum trails by only 5 points at 49-44…
Santorum’s net favorability is 21 points better than Romney’s. Santorum’s at -7 (39/46), while Romney is at -28 (29/57). That’s mostly because Republicans like Santorum a lot better (+40 at 62/22 to Romney’s +2 at 43/41). But Santorum also does a good deal better with independents, coming in at -6 (40/46) to Romney’s -23 (32/55). In the head to heads Obama leads Romney by 9 with independents, but has only a 4 point advantage on Santorum with that group.
Santorum’s also viewed slightly more favorably by independents than Romney is, and his favorable rating among Republicans is now a point better than Mitt’s — thanks to a 13-point surge since last month among Republicans who lack a college degree. Gonna be awfully hard for Santorum to resist going full metal populist on Romney if those numbers hold or even improve. On the other hand:
I’m amazed that Mitt’s numbers are perfectly steady over the past month. I guess the loss in South Carolina to Newt, the big win in Florida, and then the kinda meaningless but kinda not sweep by Santorum in the midwest last week all canceled each other out. But this is what I meant in yesterday’s post about a potential Romney death spiral: What happens if/when these perceptions of his electability start to fade? If Santorum beats him on his own turf in Michigan, will undecideds and other tepid Romney supporters start to break toward Sweater Vest because they finally believe that he really might win? See why Michigan is so huge now?
Exit question: Will Romney challenge Santorum’s supposed electability on grounds that his social views are too far right? Don’t look now but there’s already a gender gap developing between them.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Team Romney attack on Santorum backfires
On Wednesday afternoon, the Romney campaign will hold a conference call featuring Michigan leaders discussing Rick Santorum’s “record of increased government spending and earmarks.” The call will include Hilllsdale College professor Gary Wolfrem, Oakland County chief executive Brooks Patterson, and Michigan state Rep. Aric Nesbitt.
The key similarity among them: None has served in the U.S. House or Senate, and thus none has had to vote on increased government spending and earmarks.
The same cannot be said of the current and former members of Congress who often speak on Romney’s behalf on such calls. The Romney campaign discovered the risk of enlisting those lawmakers on Tuesday, when it held a call in which former Rep. and Sen. Jim Talent denounced Santorum’s spending record. Among the targets of Talent’s criticism was Santorum’s support of the Medicare prescription drug entitlement. “He voted for Medicare Part D, a big expansion of a federal entitlement,” Talent said of Santorum.
The problem was, Talent himself was in the Senate at the time, and he also voted for Medicare Part D. When reporters brought up that fact, Talent explained that he wasn’t running against Santorum — Romney was. (See the Weekly Standard’s “Romney Surrogate Attacks Santorum for Voting the Same Way He Did.”) Whatever the explanation, there’s no doubt Talent’s record undermined his criticism of Santorum, and in the end the episode highlighted why Santorum will be more difficult for the Romney team to attack than Newt Gingrich.
Much of the campaign against Gingrich focused on the former speaker’s ethics case from the 1990s. It was easy for current and former members of Congress to criticize Gingrich, because they themselves had never admitted to ethics violations or paid a $300,000 penalty. Any member of Congress, even those mostly unfamiliar with what happened in the 1990s, could slam Gingrich and not worry about the heat being turned back on themselves.
Now it’s not so simple. A new ad run in Michigan by the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future hits Santorum for voting to raise the federal debt ceiling, for voting in favor of wasteful spending, and for voting to raise his own pay as a member of Congress. How many members of Romney’s team of House and Senate endorsers have never voted to raise the debt ceiling, never voted for wasteful spending, and never voted to raise congressional pay? The fact is, many, many Republicans who have been members of Congress, especially in the George W. Bush years, have done those things and more. How effective will they be in Romney’s effort to condemn Santorum as a big spender? Romney himself can still make the spending argument against Santorum, although as governor of Massachusetts Romney sought federal earmarks just like other governors. But in this campaign Romney has often relied on surrogates to attack his opponents. From now on, when it comes to charges of big spending, Team Romney will have to be careful about who’s doing the talking.
Let us cut to the chase, Romney is scum.
Civility is a good characteristic in candidates. Mitt Romney is not exhibiting this.
The way to get Romney is to have a very professional video put out showing his support of homosexual marraige (calling him a liar, who claims he never supported it), his support of homosexuals in the military. His support of abortion on demand. His bragging about RomneyCare being a model for the country. Then end the video showing Huckabee and McCain saying you can’t believe a damn word he says. It needs to be played over and over and over and over. Also a full-page ad taken out in the biggest newspapers in each state, saying the same thing. This liberal has got to be stopped. It’s disgraceful the way he lies and distorts his record, which is matter of record for anyone to see.
“How do you debate a man who lies about his record”
~ Newt Gingrich on Mitt Romney
I would support a hundred or even a million bridges to nowhere before I would accept a top down, forced health care system like O’Romney Care!
But Mitt Romney the phony signed a gun ban, raised taxes or fees as governor, increased spending, and gave us Romneycare. Then there's his flip-flops.
It's a Santorum-Romney race in Michigan. I know who I want to lose.
Earmarking is not good at all, but it’s so tiny in comparison to the entitlement reform and massive shrinking of government America needs.
But apparently Romney will get plenty of democrats(re: moderates) to vote for him and Santorum won’t.
Here we go: Santorum Super PAC rolls out first Michigan attack ad against Romney (Watch The Stupidest Video Ever, which has no place in a presidential campaign)
http://www.freep.com/article/20120215/NEWS15/120215013/Santorum-Romney-Michigan-ad
no bigger earmark than Obamneycare.
Romney is a prick. He can’t beat anybody on the issues so he goes on the attack and outspends them 20-1. No way in hell will he be able to outspend Obama.
Heh, heh, I like it. I think that it is right on. It attacks Romney on the issues, while making fun of Romney’s big money attack machine.
If you like the zero degree of a disgusting presidential campaign, I feel sorry for you.
Just put the two of them in a mud pool, and who wins the fight, becomes “president”.
Just despicable, from both parts.
Santorum is no better than Romney. They belong to the same mudslinging team.
Oooo that’s gonna leave a mark. s/
I saw it earlier this a.m. on Fox, well part of it. They had Santorum’s Campaign Press Sec.. on and played a portion of the ad. Jon Scott laughed it off and said he about fell out of his chair . . . which I took it to mean in a sarcastic way he wasn’t impressed with the ad and thought it silly.
Go NEWT!
Pro-big government Santorum in 2005: “they have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do. Government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulation low and that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues, you know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world, and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can’t go it alone...”
I’m the last person on earth who’d support political correctness, but you just DON’T show politicians getting shot at with rifles. That’s a TERRIBLY conceived ad.
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