Actually, if he had just stayed on message against Obama - if his handlers had done their jobs and not let him hear or see a damned ad in Iowa and Florida - and kept hammering away at Obama - his flanks would have needed no protection.
It would be over by now. His only chance is to show that he is far and away the best one to take on Obama. That will trump any GOP on GOP crime of negative ads. People like Newt when he attacks Obama. They don’t like him when he attacks Mitt or when he defends himself so much. Just the way it is.
Newt did stay positive in IA for 3 weeks - purposefully and publicly - and willard continued to crap all over him. And then, romney did the same thing in Florida. I do not believe the tactic of sitting still while a pile of human crud dumps all over you. I honestly don’t know what the answer is, but you can’t be serious that you don’t defend yourself or set the record straight when people are downright lying about. You can’t mean that.