Last Friday, on the eve of his big victory over Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary, Newt Gingrich had to cancel his first campaign stop of the day at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Charleston, South Carolina.
Meanwhile, across town at the College of Charleston, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert held a rally to support Herman Cain. A huge crowd of 3,300 people attended. Colbert’s support for Cain was a complete farce. He was only there to mock Republicans generally and our campaign finance system specifically. But if Cain was at least a partial target for Colbert’s joke, why did he show up? Because when you are running for president for the publicity any attention is good attention.
The Republican primary so far has nothing to do with campaign stops, speeches, or big ideas. There have been none. Instead it has been nothing more than a second-rate reality show, one that, thanks to all the debate, has been very profitable for the cable news networks and the wannabe-entertainers who have taken the stage. According to research by National Media, the free publicity from just the debates alone has been worth between $14.4 and $40.5 million to Newt Gingrich. That is his real payday. His South Carolina win is just an opportunity to keep the gravy train going.
The longer this farce goes on, the more it helps President Obama’s reelection chances. Mitt Romney is either going to have to step up his game and embrace some real big ideas, like running on Rep. Paul Ryan’s, R-Wis., budget, or another conservative will have to enter the race.
Campaign 2012
Florida: A new Insider Advantage poll of registered Florida Republican voters has Newt Gingrich beating Mitt Romney 34%-26%.
Romney: Mitt Romney told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he will release his 2010 tax return and his estimated 2011 tax return on Tuesday. Romney also is going on offense in Florida. His new stump speech includes the following attacks on Gingrich: “Speaker Gingrich has also been a leader,” the former Massachusetts governor said. “He was a leader for four years as speaker of the House. And at the end of four years, it was proven that he was a failed leader and he had to resign in disgrace. I don’t know whether you knew that, he actually resigned after four years, in disgrace. … “Over the last 15 years since he left the House, he talks about great bold movements and ideas. Well, what’s he been doing for 15 years? He’s been working as a lobbyist, yeah, he’s been working as a lobbyist and selling influence around Washington.”
Gingrich: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called Newt Gingrich an “embarrassment” t the Republican Party on Meet the Press yesterday: “We all know the record. I mean he was run out of the speakership by his own party, he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. This is a guy that’s had a very difficult career at times and has been an embarrassment to the party.”
Around the Bigs
The Wall Street Journal, Talks on Greek Debt Hit an Impasse: The Greek government and a group of international creditors failed to agree on terms for restructuring the nation’s debt last week. Greece owes bondholders 14 billion Euros on March 30th. The government does not have the money.
The New York Times, More Lockouts as Companies Battle Unions: While the number of strikes continues to decline, lockouts, as a percentage of all work stoppages, are now at a record high.
Righty Playbook
Following Mitt Romney’s loss in South Carolina, Jen Rubin pens an open letter to Govs. Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, John Kasich, Bobby Jindal; Sens. Jon Kyl, Marco Rubio and Jim DeMint; and Reps. Eric Cantor, R-Va., Paul Ryan,R-Wis., and Mike Pence, R-Ind., begging one of them to run.
At The Corner, Mark Steyn calls Romney’s old stump speech, “insipid pap.”
The Weekly Standard‘s Fred Barnes says Romney must begin to sell “a daring plan for reviving the economy.”
Lefty Playbook
Talking Points Memo posts a chart of Newt Gingrich’s unfavorable numbers and calls it “The Chart Democrats Don’t Want GOP Voters To See.”
The New York Times Nate Silver notes that the extended nomination fight is wearing on Mitt Romney’s favorability numbers.
The Nation
‘s Ilyse Hogue hopes that Citizens Untited will push progressive to develop alternative ways to organize for change.
