Newt’s placing in Florida is what is hurting him here. This will probably change in Newt’s favour, if he does very well come Super Tuesday.
Newt has a bizarre strategy, if he has any strategy at all. He wasn’t on the Missouri beauty contest ballot and essentially ignored Minnesota and Colorado, the wins that propelled Santorum. He didn’t contest in Maine and isn’t really contesting in Michigan or Arizona. That is a lot of states to ignore. He could have set his sites on at least one of them (Colorado or Arizona would have made sense).
Instead, he is spending time in Texas, California and Georgia... basically fundraising and not campaigning. He is pinning all his hopes on Super Tuesday while Santorum gains strength in polls in the southern states, the very states Newt needs to win big in.
Newt is a smart guy so maybe he is just a lot smarter than I am. I am a Newt supporter that just doesn’t get it.