Posted on 01/04/2012 1:31:34 PM PST by Jim Robinson
Mitt Romney eked out the narrowest of victories in Iowa over Rick Santorum and now may have to ward off a combined onslaught from his rivals in the Republican presidential primary race, despite holding a sizable lead in the next voting grounds of New Hampshire.
The former Massachusetts governor has been accused of going negative on Newt Gingrich, and while Gingrich ranked a distant fourth in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, he is firing up to return the attack, while still maintaining the claim he is engaging in a positive campaign.
Gingrich told radio host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday that he could see himself and Santorum try to double-team the former Massachusetts governor, who with an expected endorsement on Wednesday from Sen. John McCain, effectively becomes the "establishment" candidate.
"Rick and I have a 20-year friendship, we are both rebels, we both came into this business as reformers, we both dislike deeply the degree to which the establishment sells out the American people," he told Ingraham.
"We both think Washington has to be changed in very fundamental ways, and we have lots of things that fit together. And the thing that's interesting is if you take the votes, you add to that (Rick) Perry and (Michele) Bachmann, you begin to see the size of the conservative vote compared to Romney ... if you take, you know, Santorum and Perry and Bachmann and Gingrich you get some sense of what a small minority Romney really represents," Gingrich said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
He’s going to, but this time he will be teaching from his desk in the Oval Office.
GO NEWT GO......
GO RICK SANTORUM!
Go Newt/Rick Go : )
For the WIN/WIN!!
Tru dat!
He's been under the radar until now, but as he gets more of the standard "Gingrich / Palin treatment" he'll come off with more of the standard Republican "baggage" - a "hypocrite" "Washington insider" "crony capitalist" "consultant / lobbyist" "getting rich off post-DC connections" etc. etc.
What people don't seem to understand is that every Republican candidate has or will have "baggage" attached to him in general. It's how they deal with it or inoculated against it that will really matter.
For now Santorum was flying under the radar and he is serving the useful purpose of splitting conservatives by drawing votes from Newt Gingrich, who is despised and feared by both Republican establishment and Democrats.
If/when he's done enough damage splitting votes with Gingrich, they'll unleash this and probably more on him. Combined with little support for him nationally and limited appeal beyond small core of conservatives (there is a reason why he was trounced in Senate campaign and was the last not-Romney-not-Newt left) and with no real policies achievements, plans or record, he'll be an easy prey for Romney who will look more electable, or his campaign will be DOA just like Dole's and McCain's were in general.
From Santorum Becomes Millionaire in Six Years - BL, by Heidi Przybyla and Julie Bykowicz, 2012 January 05
Santorum's financial rise was powered by consulting contracts with fuel producer Consol Energy Inc. (CNX), faith advocacy group Clapham Group and American Continental Group, a Washington consultancy, as well as media engagements. "If he's claiming he's not an insider, this is the thing that insiders do -- after public office they cash in," said Kent Cooper, a campaign finance expert and former Federal Elections Commission assistant staff director. ..... < snip > < snip > ..... Since his 2006 re-election defeat, the former Pennsylvania lawmaker has gone from being one of the poorer members of the U.S. Senate to earning $1.3 million between January 2010 and August 2011. In 2007, he spent $2 million to buy a 5,000-square foot home in Great Falls, Virginia, according to property records.
He was hired by law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott in 2007 which he left left in May 2008, for undisclosed reasons.
PA-based Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS), which operates a chain of acute care hospitals (70% of $5.5B in revenue) and ambulatory services, paid him $395K in director's fees and stock options since he was appointed to the board in 2006. UHS was sued in 2010 by federal government for alleged Medicaid fraud and had some legal brushes with the states.
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