As the Republican primaries grind on, it becomes clearer by the day that Mitt Romney is the weakest GOP frontrunner since former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole ran against Pres. Bill Clinton, and lost, in 1996.
The comparison with Dole presents a historical paradox. One of the biggest factors that hobbled the Senate leader’s campaign in 1996 was his close association with his counterpart in the House, Speaker Newt Gingrich. While Gingrich was not on the ticket that year — Dole’s running mate was a GOP liberal, Jack Kemp — the Clinton campaign deployed a relentless barrage of television ads that tied Dole to Gingrich, who was, and remains, the most unpopular and divisive figure in American politics.
The irony lies in the fact that, in the current cycle, Gingrich is playing a role opposite to the one he played in 1996. His campaign for the nomination, which should have died before it began, is now the key factor propping up the campaign of Mitt Romney’s favor, the putative frontrunner.
In primary after primary, Gingrich has peeled off votes of the GOP’s teavangelical, neo-Confederate base from Rick Santorum, often denying Santorum a win over Romney, as he did in Ohio, or nabbing delegates that would have otherwise gone to Santorum, as he has done just about everywhere else, including in Alabama and Mississippi last night.
In past cycles, a buffoon like Gingrich would have run out of money and so been forced out of the race by now. But, thanks to the GOP’s own Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, Gingrich and his zombie campaign can keep going — can continue accruing delegates that should go to Santorum — because, and only because, he has the financial backing of a billionaire, Sheldon Adelson, the owner of the Venetian and Sands casinos in Las Vegas, among other properties.
Gingrich revealed the depths of his delusions last week when he told supporters in Alabama, “We’re staying in this race because I believe it’s going to be impossible for a moderate to win the general election.”
In an interview on right-wing radio later in the week, he explained why he had no confidence in Santorum. “If I thought he was a slam dunk to beat Romney and to beat Obama I would really consider getting out. I don’t. I think each of the three candidates has strengths and weaknesses and that this is a very healthy vetting process.”
In reality, candidates with positions as retrograde as his, Santorum’s and now Romney’s cannot deliver a majority of independents, especially independent women, whose votes make up the margins in tight elections.
After losing the primaries in both Alabama and Mississippi last night, Gingrich vowed to go on:
“If you’re a front runner and you’re coming in third, you’re not much of a front runner,” Gingrich said.
“One of the things tonight proved is that the elite media’s effort to convince the nation that Mitt Romney is inevitable just collapsed,” Gingrich said. “The fact is in both states the conservative candidates got nearly 70 percent of the vote.”
“We’ll now have three or four days of the media saying ‘why doesn’t Gingrich quit,'” Gingrich said. “The biggest challenge will be raising money because we came in second, which wasn’t as much as we wanted.”
This prompted a sigh from Andrew Sullivan, the former GOP sympathizer, who was live blogging the primary results last night:
Gingrich reveals his strategy: stagger on to Tampa and make sure nobody wins. Then pitch himself to the brokered convention as the best candidate to defeat Obama. He’s running against the “elite media” and “the millionaires” to deny Romney a delegate victory. A brutal war of attrition and revenge against Romney. Not a good sign for the party.
I think the real reason Newt stays in is because it’s too much fun for him. If he got out, he would be paid as much attention as Rep. Michele Bachmann, who recently participated in Sen. Al Franken’s Hot Dish Cookoff, or former Ambassador Jon Who? As long as Newt stays in, he’s the center of attention. The moment he leaves the race, the spotlights go out.
It’s like Night of the Living Republicans http://www.zombielogicblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/night-of-living-republicans.html