GOP Primary Megathread!

[DGuller]

Trump is a joke that has been run into the ground for some time.

[jimmy olsen]

Really? Isn't that what you were banking on for years?

firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/08/10354408-taking-fight-to-santorum-romney-predicts-extended-primary-battle

Taking fight to Santorum, Romney predicts extended primary battle
By NBC's Garrett Haake

ATLANTA —Predicting an extended nominating fight, Mitt Romney said Wednesday he didn't expect the GOP primary season to result in a "coronation," all while downplaying a sweep of three nominating contests last night by Rick Santorum.

Romney said he still expected to become the Republican Party's nominee against President Obama this fall, but seemed to brace for a longer-than-expected path to the nomination.

"We think we can beat Sen. Santorum where we compete head-to-head in an aggressive way, and we obviously didn't do that in Colorado or Minnesota to the extent that the other campaign did," Romney said on an airport Tarmac here in Georgia. "There will certainly be places where he wins, and there will be places where I win. There's no such thing as coronations in presidential politics. It's meant to be a long process. It's not easy to get the nomination, it's not easy to be elected president and this is a testing ... a testing approach. And so far we're doing pretty well."

Last night's contests — in which no delegates were awarded, Romney's campaign was quick to point out — did not, however, go so well for Romney. He suffered double digit defeats in Minnesota, where he won four years ago, and in Missouri, where Newt Gingrich did not appear on the ballot. In Colorado, a state where Romney competed actively and where the campaign seemed confident of a win, he lost by five points to Santorum.

Asked today about lessons learned in the defeat, Romney came out swinging, lumping Santorum together with Gingrich as a creature of Washington, and blaming both men for fostering a spending and earmark culture that ultimately hurt the Republican party, and spawned the Tea Party movement. The former Massachusetts governor said he did not respond to attacks while campaigning in Nevada, but that going forward he would make differences between himself and his opponents "very clear."

"Under Newt Gingrich earmarks doubled. Rick Santorum was a major earmarker and continues to defend earmarks. Under Rick Santorum he voted to raise the debt ceiling I believe five different times to a tune of about an addition $3.5 trillion," Romney said. "I believe that while Sen. Santorum was serving in congress and the Senate, government spending increased by some 80%.  Republicans spent too much money, borrowed too much money, earmarked too much, and Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have to be held accountable."

Romney followed up with a spending-based attack on Santorum at a rally later on: "During Sen. Santorum's time in Washington, government grew 80 percent. And he voted to raise the debt ceiling five times."

Perhaps looking to reclaim his economy-oriented message, Romney turned his attack on Santorum and Gingrich into an attack on borrowing and spending more broadly, and hammered his point home.

"When Republicans act like Democrats, they lose.  And in Newt Gingrich's case he had to resign.  In Rick Santorum's case, he lost by the biggest margin of any Senate incumbent since 1980. Again, borrowing, spending, and earmarking is not a good combination if you're a Republican and not a good combination, in my view, for America," Romney said.

[jimmy olsen]

A pretty awesome quote I found.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/02/santorum_s_big_victories_what_will_front_runner_mitt_romney_do_now_.html

The GOP nominating race has become a clash of vampires and zombies. Candidates like Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich appear to die only to rise again, while Mitt Romney walks around not quite alive.

[The Minsky Moment]

Mitt, please stop calling that nitwit "Senator"
The guy has been out of work for 5 years.

[jimmy olsen]

Mitt, please stop calling that nitwit "Senator"
The guy has been out of work for 5 years.

Don't you get to be called that for the rest of your life?

[Sheilbh]

Mitt, please stop calling that nitwit "Senator"
The guy has been out of work for 5 years.

Well Romney has, in his phrase, been unemployed for as long.

[Sheilbh]

Mitt, please stop calling that nitwit "Senator"
The guy has been out of work for 5 years.

Don't you get to be called that for the rest of your life?

It's always jarring when you hear American politicians talking about British politicians because it's not like that over here.  So Bill Clinton calling Gordon Brown 'Chancellor Brown' or people referring to 'Prime Minister Blair' always sounds very odd to us.

[The Minsky Moment]

Don't you get to be called that for the rest of your life?

he didn't call newt "Speaker"
Besides the right wing kooks are always yammering on about no titles of nobility.

[The Minsky Moment]

Well Romney has, in his phrase, been unemployed for as long.

That's different.  He's retired.   

[garbon]

Really? Isn't that what you were backing on for years?

Generally not a good idea to admit that it is rightfully yours. See Hillary.

[Sheilbh]

It's kinda ironic that a "moderate" has become an insult these days among the crowd which follows a religion that considers "Moderation" to be one of its Cardinal Virtues. 

I don't actually think the issue with Romney is that he's a 'moderate'.  He's not saying anything strikingly moderate. I can't think of a single McCain style 'straight talk, my friends' moment from Romney.  Romney was a moderate Governor of a blue state who, on leaving office, decided to run as a rock-ribbed social conservative in 2008.  That's why I think conservatives don't like Romney.  They just don't trust anything he says, I think reasonably enough.  I think if Romney had run as a businessman, moderate Massachussetts Governor in 2008 he'd have lost, but I think he'd have already won this primary.

Far more important, in my view, is that the base think, rightly, that Romney's a weak candidate.  They don't know what he'd actually do in office, but then who does?  And they don't like having this foist on them by an out-of-touch failed party elite and told it's good for them.  Again who can blame them for that?

Romney's real problem isn't that conservatives don't like him.  It's that moderates don't.  Independents don't.  He is at best the candidate that everyone can kind of accept.  There's no base of really enthusiastic Romney supporters and I think all campaigns need people who are for your campaign and want you in office.  At best Romney's support is indifferent.  Phil's the only Romney-backer (as opposed to 'well, he'll do') I've actually seen. 

Saw Santorum give his speech last night where he blamed Obama for the Wall Street bailouts to help his Wall Street friends.

This is standard.  Romney blames Obama for the 'Obama recession'.  Newt thinks Obama wants the poor to be dependant because of something something Kenyan something Allinsky socialist anti-colonial mindset.  I don't quite understand it myself.

Any chances of someone else dropping their hat in to save the day? Rubio?

I think it's too late.  A candidate couldn't file in enough states to win the delegates.  The only hope is a brokered convention.

I'm a bit surprised by Santorum's surge here.


And worried too.

If I were Romney I'd worry more about Santorum than Newt.  Santorum can appeal to evangelicals, working class voters and Catholics who've all been weak for Romney this time round.  He's also a strong retail campaigner and he's disciplined.  None of that really goes for Newt so much.

What should really scare Romney is if Newt drops out.  As Ian Leslie said Newt probably knows that's the best way to achieve his goal and destroy Romney.  Luckily for Romney this requires Newt's head to beat Newt's galactic ego.  So he should be safe.

[Jacob]

What should really scare Romney is if Newt drops out.  As Ian Leslie said Newt probably knows that's the best way to achieve his goal and destroy Romney.  Luckily for Romney this requires Newt's head to beat Newt's galactic ego.  So he should be safe.

It also requires that destroying Romney is a something Newt values over the spotlight.

[Phillip V]

Any chance that Ron Paul will pull an upset in Maine?

[Neil]

If he didn't win New Hampshire, he won't win anywhere.

[stjaba]

Don't you get to be called that for the rest of your life?

he didn't call newt "Speaker"
Besides the right wing kooks are always yammering on about no titles of nobility.

Technically, you don't address someone by their former title if only one person can occupy that title at time. Since there's only one Speaker, it's appropriate to not address Gingrich by that title, but since there are multiple senators at a time, it is okay to call address Santorum as senator.