ORLANDO, Fla. — After Newt Gingrich failed in his Florida bid to overtake Mitt Romney as the GOP front-runner, he now faces a three-man struggle out west to hold on to his status as the top conservative alternative to Romney.
“Just yesterday a poll was released showing that I am leading Mitt Romney by double digits in Missouri,” former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum wrote in a fundraising email to supporters. “I am the only one with a positive message and track record as a true conservative.”
And Texas Rep. Ron Paul seemed energized by the westward shift of the race. “The message is loud and clear,” said Paul, who has been campaigning in Nevada for several days. “The enthusiasm is here, but it has to be translated into proper political action. That means attending the caucuses, and sending a powerful message to this country that we want our freedoms back, we don’t want more government!”
Paul said he plans to continue his campaign all the way to the Republican Party’s national convention in August.
Nevada is holding its nominating caucuses on Saturday. Missouri has its primary on Feb. 7, along with Minnesota and Colorado. Also holding their nominating contests this month are Maine and Arizona.
Santorum said former House Speaker Gingrich blew his chance to coalesce the “non-Romney” vote around him in Florida, where Gingrich lost to Romney by 14 points.
Within minutes of the Florida polls closing, Santorum’s campaign released an ad online attacking Gingrich and asked supporters for money to get the ad “on TV around the country and continue to show that there is only one true conservative in the race that can stop moderate Mitt Romney and liberal Barack Obama — and that’s Rick Santorum.”
Meanwhile, a defiant Gingrich scooted to Reno, Nev., on Wednesday, after dismissing the notion that his poor Florida performance had opened the door for Santorum or Paul.
“It is now certain that this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader Newt Gingrich and the Massachusetts moderate,” Gingrich said. “We are going to contest every place and we are going to win and we will be in Tampa as the nominee in August.”
Gingrich, whose campaign is running low on funds, pledged to run a “peoples’ campaign” to defeat Romney’s fundraising advantage.
“We are going to have people power defeat money power in the next six months,” he said.
Romney arrived in Nevada on Wednesday with strong momentum and a large early lead in the delegate race.
He sought to allay fears that a protracted fight for the nomination would weaken the GOP in the general election battle with President Obama. “Perhaps what we’re getting now inoculates us, or at least prepares us, for what will come down the road,” Romney said.
