Outside groups overwhelm Gingrich – The Hill’s Ballot Box
When Newt Gingrich opened up a sizable lead in Iowa last month, he was promptly broadsided by a torrent of negative Super PAC advertisements that now threaten to sink his once-promising campaign.
Well, we’ll see.
Iowa may shake loose one, possibly even two, GOP candidates: Bachmann and Perry. New Hampshire may dump Huntsman.
That would leave Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, and Paul going into North Carolina. Paul is not going to be the nominee of the Republican Party, which would leave Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum slugging it out for the nomination. Santorum has yet to endure the firestorm that the left and his GOP opponents would focus on his flip-flops, mis-steps, and mistakes over his career, including such non-starters with independents as his creationist efforts, and his endorsement of Arlen Specter with the Tea Partiers. Moreover, the upcoming round of debates will continue to play as large a role as they have in the runup to the primaries, and I’ve seen no evidence that Santorum can survive for long on the same stage with Gingrich and Romney.
As I have maintained, and continue to maintain, if the race is not locked up before it comes down to the Romney-Gingrich confrontation, then Romney will lose. Voters are looking for “the smart guy” who can take it to Obama face to face, and they are going to figure out that “baggage” is not a big factor here, since every GOP candidate has debilitating baggage, as far as the Dem assault teams are concerned.
In other words, it ain’t over till it’s over, and I still consider Newt Gingrich an eminently viable candidate.
