Nomination Fight: No Mitt Slam Dunk

30 January 2012 |permalink | email article

ANY THOUGHT Mitt Romney’s predicted double-digit win over Newt Gingrich tomorrow in Florida’s primary may hasten the end of the nomination battle is grossly overstated. On “Meet the Press” Romney’s surrogate, Sen. John McCain, could hardly contain his glee while former Sen. Fred Thompson, Gingrich’s surrogate, downplayed Florida’s importance while noting it represents fewer than 10% of the convention delegates. What’s key beyond winner-take-all Florida is the reality after that proportional representation kicks in all states. Gingrich is confident the fight for all 1144 delegates will rage all the way to Tampa in late August. He’s defining the battle as between “Mitt Romney liberalism” against the “grassroots conservative base, meaning tea party types, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh. A critical question now is how far super billionaire Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate, enamored with Gingrich’s staunch defense of Israel, is willing to go in bankrolling him. Gingrich has benefited from more than $7 million in political contributions to his group since 2006. In recent weeks Adelson and his wife, Miriam, have contributed $10 million to a “super PAC” supporting him.

Obama’s Latino Appeal

When the President sat down with Spanish-language network Univision on Wednesday, one of the first things he said without being asked on immigration was “we‘re trying to make sure we’re prioritizing criminals for deportation.” Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an outspoken immigration reform advocate, said he noticed a new level of engagement from the White House after an initially chilly reception. Officials have denied that immigrant-related measures are tied to the president politically, but Republicans strongly disagree.

Briefly: Sen. Marco Rubio tells N.Y. Times Magazine he’s “not a candidate for vice-president and, to correct the record, said no one in his family “actually ever said we had to escape Cuba.”—Lance Priebus, 40, the former Wisconsin GOP chairman, close to embattled Gov. Scott Walker, and now RNC chairman, was asked by Bob Schieffer on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” to repeat his ascertain Obama is linked to Capt. Schettino on the doomed cruise liner off Tuscany who abandoned ship—he’s more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president, a cheap shot worthy of a tiny piss ant.—Robert Gibbs, the testy former WH press secretary with the blunt style and candor with Obama, is back on the payroll.

Quotable

Here’s the good news. Newt has always dreamed of being in American history books. And I think he’s got that nailed.—NYT columnist Gail Collins, noting big-league conservative elites fear that if Gingrich’s the nominee, the Republicans would be destroyed in November.
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