The first real primary where all the participants are members of the Republican Party base is done. Newt wins and the Mittens coronation tour is over. Trench warfare now begins.
Iowa and New Hampshire will let anybody in to play Republican-for-a-day and influence the results, but South Carolina is different and only the true faithful participate. South Carolina is to Wingnutopia what Mecca is to Islam. In this primary, the 27 percenters are a majority. South Carolina is a center of neo-Confederate thought and conspiracy theories about white victimhood at the hands of
the Federal GovernmentThe Union are fed to the base from childhood.
Yeah, pretty much.
I’m glad Dennis G. sees what seems obvious to me. I was beginning to wonder why I was alone.
Pundits are funny. When an economic conservative Republican from an adjoining state wins in New Hampshire, everyone treats it as a foregone conclusion, but when an angry crypto-racist Republican from an adjoining state wins in South Carolina, it’s a big surprise? Really?
Strom Thurmond is dead, but he ain’t gone.
Awww, I thought Gingrich won because he’s from the middle class. After all, he’s an historian whose history lessons only earn him $3 million a year.
“Newt, now that you’re won in SC, where are you going?”
‘Dixie!’
OY!
Look away, look away, look away – it’s Dixieland!!!
Sure, this win in SC helps him in fundraising, but he’s far behind Mitt when it comes to people.
Newt’s problem is that he doesn’t have a ground game in a lot of states, and Mitt does – especially when he gets out of the South.
If Hillary, who’s super-competent, couldn’t get as good a ground game as Barack, what makes anyone think Newt can? He needs to move fast, and something tells me the money folks are still behind Mitt, so Newt will have a tough slog.
Having said that – it grows curiouser and curiouser.
You are forgetting the key candidate – the most important man in the race. Rick Santorum!
I hear “huh?”.
Ricky was counting on the ‘buckle of the bible belt”, especially with the heaven-sent revelation from Newt’s second wife on the eve of the election. He finished 23 points behind Newt. So the money will dry up for Santorum and at some point even divine intervention won’t be enough. The question is when, because IMO, almost all those votes will either go to Gingrich (or stay home). This even out the numbers in a lot of states – again, my opinion.
Do I think Newt can overcome Mitt’s money? Not a chance. Nor do I care which idiot gets the blessing of the GOP in Tampa. I just want them both so badly mauled by the primary fight that the Independent voter is revolted by the whole GOP brand.
Doug — I wouldn’t have expected Rick Santorum to do all that well in the South, his monomaniacal aversion to reproductive freedom notwithstanding. He just doesn’t do race-baiting like a real southerner.
I think you’re onto something maha – Newt’s a southern boy and knows far better how to appeal to southerners than Santorum. That said, if I were a Sheldon Adelson type (he’s the Vegas mogul who wrote a recent big check to Newt, rescuing his campaign), I’d love to send a check to Ricky Santorum to keep this three or four way circus going.
I’m with Gulag – I don’t think Newt’s going to last long outside the South. No ground game and no deep pockets.
Check out Zandar today for little Ricky’s next problem. He doesn’t seem to care too much for the olds or the vets or the combo. But Mitt can’t address anything that reflects badly on a religious group, Newt is of that group, and Ron would probably get sidetracked by Vatican conspiracy theories.
I mentioned last night the anguish that conservatives elites like Krauthammer and Noonan are going through; this report from the trenches brightened my morning: