I'll now remind you that Obama will have a lot of vectors in his quiver and nobody will care about the whining we do about it.
You’re confusing yourself. Be patient. Let’s use simple numbers.
Each candidate starts with nothing, and then the race begins. They each move according to their own individual strength.
Romney moves up 28, but gets hit with a negative two from Gingrich and negative one from Santorum which puts Romney back at 25.
Santorum takes 40, but Romney hits him with negative seventeen and Gingrich throws a negative one, leaving Santorum at 22.
Meanwhile Gingrich makes it to 50, but Romney comes at him with negative 30 and Santorum with negative five, leaving Gingrich back at 15.
So you see? Newt has the best vote-getting machine of all three candidates. Remember—the ability to get votes is the forward arrow, while dumping cash into negative ads is the opposing vector.