Posted on 03/15/2012 7:44:14 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The latest FOX News poll of Republican voters supports Newt Gingrich’s strange-sounding assertion that his presence in the race is actually a benefit to rival Rick Santorum.
Gingrich casts the advantage to Santorum in a tactical sense, saying that the two of them together divide Romney’s attention and bleed the Republican frontrunner of his money. Gingrich argues that Romney’s success is attributable to negative ads and out-spending that cannot be replicated in a general election and so, therefore he should be bled and blocked so that someone else can get the nomination at the end of August.
Santorum supporters have argued that the time has long since come for Gingrich to drop out of the race so that Santorum can unite the right and defeat Romney outright before the convention.
But with Romney so far ahead on delegates, Santorum would need to win 66 percent of the remaining delegates to win, a tough task for someone who has won only 27 percent so far. Even if he had won all of the delegates Gingrich had won so far, Santorum would only have 41 percent of the total, still 12 percent behind Romney.
The poll suggests, though, that the reality of a Gingrich-less race might not even be as good as that for Santorum.
Gingrich polls at 13 percent in the latest survey, one point better than Texas Rep. Ron Paul, 19 points behind Santorum and 25 points behind frontrunner Romney.
But when asked how they would vote without Gingrich in the race, the former speaker’s supporters don’t all shift to Santorum. Out of Gingrich’s 13 percent, Santorum gets 7 percent, but Romney gets 5 percent. Paul gets a point too.
While Santorum would move up, Romney would be pushed even closer to the finish line......
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Agree with the headline.
Gingrich must stay in.
There is one logical fallacy in the article. If Santorum had the votes that went to Newt, he would not simply have the delegates Newt has won added to his own. He could have won more and likely would have. Of course, this could be argued the other direction as well.
I am not calling for Newt to drop out. That might be a mistake on my part, but I suspect his support will begin to fade. Forcing him out will only alienate more of his supporters. As wacky as things have been, do we want to drop to just one conservative?
Ive got mixed feelings about it.
If Newt does decide to get out of the race he should make a deal with Santorum. He tosses the delegates he can to Santorum in return for Santorum promising him the VP slot. However the same can be done in a contested convention.
Personally I can’t think of a better president / vice president team. Newt is strong enough that as VP he would have lots of input in a Santorum administration and he has the experience to apply the whip to congress.
There is no good reason for Newt to drop out now, it would only benefit the Massachusetts Moderate, leaving Mitt a clear field to take Santorum out (you will see negative attacks on Rick come out of the woodwork — and cries that he must quit like Newt “did”). And then there would only be Mitt, insufferable, pompous, unqualified Mitt Romney — the guy who’s Massachusetts environmental team and health care team are working and shaping federal policy for Barack Obama.
Right now, Santorum is facing negative attacks from Romney, Gingrich, and Paul. They seem to be helping him, especially in the South. I assume it is because both Romney’s and the Newt PAC’s ads sound just like the ones the Democrats use to attack conservatives around here.
I’m not so sure that Gingrich and Santorum aren’t already working together quietly.
Mitt would beat Rick, but Obama would beat Rick even more. That is our problem. Many of our fellow conservatives are linking themselves to a candidate that can not win.
Go Newt.
Newt is too old to be VP. I can’t see him accepting that.
Personally I can’t think of a better president / vice president team.
Our Cheney. I think it would work too.
In the event of Santorum dropping out, I believe Newt would gain in strength when Mitt and Newt are compared side by side. Mitt needs Newt out first and he is hoping that the carpet bombing and the push by the establishment/others for Newt to get out will work.
If Newt does drop out,Romney will carpet bomb Santorum and with the amount of material that is out there, Santorum will crash hard and fast. Santorum does not have the policies or communication strengths Newt has. In addition, the only reason Santorum appears to be viable is because the Dems and Ind are voting for him in an effort to screw up our primary, and because the bigger focus of all the negative stuff has been on Newt.
Santorum doesn't have a chance of beating Obama and if we hope to have someone besides Romney, a brokered convention is a must.
It would seem to me that either one would have a better shot without the other. Am I missing something here? BTW, I’m not making a case against either of them.
Well stated.
Let’s look at this from ONLY the debate perpective
Who would you rather see debate Obama?
Santorum? (too whiney)
Romney? (too inept- “Okay c’mon I betcha $10,000 the economy is worse now. C’mon you wanna bet?”)
Gingrich? (would be akin to a blood sport)
The perfect good cop/bad cop team.
Santorum talking policy with a smile and Newt applying the whip to congress with vigor. I’d bring in John Bolton for secretary of state. A good constitutionalist attorney General is a must at this point as well. (Judge Napolitano maybe?)
How many states do no have Santorum on their ballots? If Newt leaves the race, Mitt’s PAC will unleash hundreds of attack ads on Rick just like they/mitt did for Newt....they will destroy Rick in less than a week leaving only Mitt standing. This is not the way to elect the right person...this is personnel. Stay in Newt; fight the good fight; who says you are not the best for the country....only the left and pundits who unfortunately stand for the elites i.e., haven’t a clue as to the American people’s desires for honest and transparent government and less of that government in their daily lives. GO NEWT!!!
If Gingrich agreed to VP with Santorum, could Santorum delegate his VP to debate the president? Afterall, it takes more than 1 person to run the administration. I think the public would accept it.
(Someone posted yesterday an article intimating there would be something coming out in the next few days that could tie Rick to the Paterno/Sandusky scandal in some way.)
Caveat: The allegation was vague and referred to Dem sources that had been credible before. No proof was offered; therefore, since the article was entirely speculative, it may well be more “dirty tricks” from the Dems, Romney campaign or others.
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