As expected, Mitt Romney had an overwhelming win in Nevada, another step in his increasingly likely march toward the Republican nomination. The substance of his victory speech was a mostly paint by numbers attack on President Obama, but he delivered it in front of a loud and energized group of supporters. With each victory he chalks up — and there will likely be more this month — he looks and acts more and more like the nominee.
The only real drama in Nevada — if you could call it that — was the race for second place and how Newt Gingrich would react to the results. Right now, Gingrich is leading Ron Paul, but there aren’t enough results in to say whether the lead will hold. But the big story for him was the decision to forgo a standard election night speech in favor of a press conference.
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Gingrich’s entire campaign is premised on the idea that it’s powered by people to challenge the establishment. Yet here he was, deciding to hold a press conference with media elites instead of rallying his supporters. So it was an odd decision to begin with, which Gingrich explained had to do with the fact that he thought it would be a more appropriate event for “Super Bowl eve,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. Then Gingrich laid out his plan for continuing to fight for the nomination to the convention — something that you’ll rarely hear a winning candidate say.
The rest of the press conference was very process oriented and filled with bitter attacks on Romney, from his negative campaigning to his statements on the poor. Gingrich even remarked that it was “weird” that Romney fired his debate coach who had helped him through the two Florida debates in which most people thought he did well. Gingrich can talk all he wants about running an unconventional campaign, but at the end of the day, money and delegates are what matter and the prospects don’t look great for either right now.
