SuperTuesday Narrative:
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| Santorum (brown) takes most Ohio Counties |
The breathtaking sweep of the SuperTuesday elections will
undoubtedly yield many stories which will need interpretation. There are,
however, five main points in any credible SuperTuesday narrative.
First, Mitt cannot seal the deal. Not even by spending $12
million in two weeks in one state. Not even with the benefit of the Dele-GATE
scandal by which he has manipulated either delegate rules or campaign momentum
by unscrupulous party misdeeds in Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, Maine, Florida, Arizona, and Michigan. Not even with the support of media giants Fox and Drudge. Not even with the endorsement of major party leaders.
Secondly, Rick is here to stay. Nothing has been easy for
Santorum. Yet, he has weathered the blistering unleashed on him by Romney’s
campaign treasure chest in every state contest. Romney outspent Santorum 6:1 in
Romney’s home turf in Michigan,
yet Rick wrestled him to a tie. Again, Romney outspent Santorum 12:1 in Ohio, and again Rick
wrestled him to a tie. In both states, Rick did so even though his conservative
base was split with Newt, which brings up the third narrative point.
Thirdly, at this point, Mitt’s best friend is Newt who is
effectively preventing Rick from competing one-on-one with Mitt, a contest
which Rick would clearly win. Newt’s southern strategy is kaput, with key
states having been won by Santorum (Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee),
and polling favorably for Santorum (Mississippi,
Alabama, North Carolina). Santorum has won recent significant straw
polls in Texas and is likely to win the
important North Shore Tea Party straw poll this weekend in Louisiana. Since there is little more that
Newt can accomplish by staying in the race, except to ensure a Romney win, one
can only speculate that his continuation is designed to help pad his future
conference speaking schedule and book contracts. Newt is quickly in danger of
exchanging his reputation as the failed Speaker of the House with the equally onerous title of
spoiler for the moderate candidate.
Fourthly, back to Romney and his profligate, Obama-like
spending spree. The Romney campaign did not anticipate having to spend so much
money at this point in the primary season, and has little left to continue its win-by-smear
ad campaign. Fund raising numbers are about to come out for February, and the
Romney campaign may be embarrassed to find itself having raised less money than
the Santorum campaign. This will have a psychological effect on supporters,
especially as they watch Romney resort to writing loan checks from his personal
account to his campaign. Apparently, money can NOT buy an election, although it
goes very far in keeping someone else from winning.
Fifthly, the vastly underfunded, underorganized Santorum
campaign demonstrates how much a poorly equipped band of volunteers can do
through hard work if they have a capable, relentless candidate with the right
ideas. One can hardly avoid an analogy with Gen. Washington and his
unprofessional, poorly outfitted army going up against the world’s superpower
in the late 1700s. Nothing has been easy for Santorum, and victory is still not
in hand. Yet with hardly a moment’s rest, he is off today for a Kansas noon event and to Mississippi
for two more events later today in an effort to secure the nomination, just as Gen. Washington pushed on to Princeton after Trenton.
All in all, it was a bad SuperTuesday for Mitt, a great day
for Rick, and a devastating day for Newt. It could have been worse or better
for either Mitt or Rick. But the draw goes not to the front-runner, but to his
opponent.
Grant’s army cut off Lee’s supply lines, forcing Lee to withdraw from 
We Conservative Republicans, we heirs of the Reagan legacy, have likewise engaged in an epic struggle to put forward our candidate as the one best suited to turn our country around. Newt Gingrich has fought as valiantly as any candidate and is worthy as much honor as any commander. But the way forward for him has come to an end. To persist is self-destructive. It is time for a truce with Rick Santorum, who holds Gingrich in high respect. It is time to unite this Republican party behind one conservative candidate to defeat the Massachusetts Moderate who will otherwise go the way of McCain and Dole, and would give Obama 4 more destructive years. Together, there is much that can be done, and Gingrich can play a major role therein.
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