I would define Newt’s head space as: ‘Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’David Lane • A conservative leader close to Gingrich. This quote is actually from before the primary, and Lane’s prediction was born out in Gingrich’s speech tonight, wherein the former Speaker pledged to plow forward despite having lost Florida tonight. The article’s author, Alexander Burns, adds that “Gingrich has made a career out of upending conventional wisdom and ignoring the establishment view that he should go to the corner and shut up.” A long, protracted primary probably won’t be any help to the eventual nominee, but it’ll sure be fun for political nerds like us. source (via • follow)
A shot from Gingrich HQ right now, where Newt loyalists are awaiting their fearless leader. You can watch the live stream here, courtesy of CNN.
It’s January 31st and it’s over. Mitt Romney has blown away the field in the Florida primary and is now the de facto Republican 2012 nominee for president.
So what does everyone do? Huge armies of “embeds” and reporters and producers and “analysts” and bloggers and talking heads have been amassed to cover the campaign. They work at cable television networks, broadcast networks, web-sites, magazines, newspapers and radio stations. And they have been spending money faster than all those dreary people in accounting can count it.
A win this epic in Florida is hard to contest. Had Gingrich done better tonight it would’ve been a bit of a dogfight.
Mitt’s it!: ABC News, among other outlets, has projected that Mitt Romney is the winner of the 2012 Florida GOP Primary. This was not a surprising result — he’d led chief rival Newt Gingrich in the polls by double digits coming into today, and by double digits it seems he will win. He presently leads Gingrich by about 16%, with close to 50% of all Florida precincts reporting. Newt Gingrich is projected to place in second, with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul trailing in third and forth, respectively. Now, the campaigns move on to Nevada (though both Paul and Santorum left Florida early, ceding their chances in Florida to get a head-start in the Silver State), where Newt Gingrich faces a tall order indeed; his campaign has nowhere near the organization and ground game that Romney’s does there, and after this decisive loss he needs a roaring comeback to stay viable. (Photo by Erik Hersman) source
![reuters:
A volunteer for U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaks on a telephone at the Newt 2012 Polk County headquarters office in Lakeland, Florida. [REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton]
Watch and comment on the Reuters live blog
The saddest room in all the world.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyow3gCkca1qmaoalo1_500.png)
A volunteer for U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaks on a telephone at the Newt 2012 Polk County headquarters office in Lakeland, Florida. [REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton]
The saddest room in all the world.
» Pardon us if that seems reductive, but how evangelical voters relate to Mitt Romney’s faith, and Newt Gingrich’s lack of faithfulness, has been a critical question in the GOP nominating process. In a barrage of exit polling coming out of Florida tonight, this seems to be one of the few positives Gingrich can take away; while not a staggering advantage by any stretch, his personal baggage risks making him deeply unpalatable to a moralistic, Christian electorate. In the short-term, however, it seems he’s staying afloat with those voters, at least enough to keep Romney at his back.
» The early exit polling tells the tale, and it’s an especially concerning one for Newt Gingrich. The GOP debates held in Florida, particularly the most recent one, were widely thought have been won by Mitt Romney. Gingrich himself never had a worse debate than that, just prior to Florida voters having to make up their minds. That Gingrich is likely to lose tonight is no shocker — heading into today he was polling behind by double-digits. However, considering it was his sharp, aggressive debate demeanor that propelled him to victory in South Carolina, to now be losing that medium to Mitt Romney has to sting, and is an essential issue for his campaign going forward.
Time is not Newt Gingrich’s friend, because the more time he has, the more he talks.George Will on “This Week”• Regarding the hazardous effects of Newt Gingrich’s prolonged loquacity. Will was reacting in part to Gingrich’s allegation, made earlier on the same show, that Mitt Romney is a “maniacal liar.” Just last month, Gingrich had pledged to run “a positive campaign focused on our country’s future;” guess that’s easy to say when you’re the frontrunner. source (via • follow)
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
