If there was any remaining doubt about who will most likely be the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney’s decisive win in New Hampshire last night should have ended it. Not only did he score 39% of the vote in a six candidate field, he beat his next closest competitor, Ron Paul, by a full 16 points. And the exit polls are even more compelling. Romney won among virtually every demographic polled. He beat Rick Santorum among evangelicals. He beat Newt Gingrich among Tea Party supporters. He beat everyone among those who cared most about beating Obama. The only demographics he lost were college kids (who voted for Paul) and those who oppose the Tea Party (they went for Jon Huntsman).
But despite this decisive victory, none of the five other competitors is leaving the race. Santorum clearly failed to expand his appeal beyond evangelicals and, as Michael Barone points out, this will doom him going forward just as it doomed Mike Huckabee in 2008. But Santorum is sticking around for South Carolina.
Huntsman did surge in the final weeks in New Hampshire, but he ultimately finished six points back of Paul at only 17%. And New Hampshire is the most sympathetic electorate he will face for weeks. But Huntsman is sticking around for South Carolina.
Gingrich, as Rush Limbaugh pointed out yesterday, is no longer in the race to win votes. His only mission in life right now is to hurt Romney. So he is going to South Carolina, too.
Rick Perry finished with less than 1% of the vote last night. He has never placed higher than fifth in any contest and that is exactly where the latest polling out of South Carolina has him now. But he’s not giving up either.
South Carolina Republicans have a history of endorsing the establishment candidate. As Barone notes, “South Carolina … has clinched the Republican nomination, and not for the candidates deemed most conservative: Bush in 1988 and 1992, Bob Dole in 1996, George W. Bush in 2000, and John McCain in 2008.”
As Ron Paul admitted earlier to ABC News, he was never going to win the nomination. But he will continue his campaign indefinitely to press the Republican party in a libertarian direction. But Huntsman, Perry, Gingrich, and Santorum all once thought they had a real chance. Now we know they don’t. The sooner they all realize that their campaigns are dead, the better.
Campaign 2012
New Hampshire: The Washington Examiner‘s Phil Klein reports that economic concerns drove many Republicans to vote for Mitt Romney. Candace Gendron, of Merrimack, told Klein, “I think he’ll be able to create more jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. That’s my issue.”
South Carolina: Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., predicted on Mark Levin’s radio show yesterday that Mitt Romney will win the South Carolina primary: “He’s hitting a lot of the hot buttons for me about balancing the budget, and frankly I’m a little concerned about the few Republicans who have criticized some of what I consider free market principles here,” DeMint said.
Romney: In his victory speech last night, Romney declared, “This election is a choice between two very different destinies. … He wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society. We want to ensure that we remain a free and prosperous land of opportunity.”
Gingrich: Bloomberg got a sneak-peak of Newt Gingrich attack on Bain Capital and reports, “Among the film’s allegations, it potentially overstates Romney’s net worth and the number of homes he owns and misstates how active a role he played in Bain during a period the company owned KB Toys Inc.”
Santorum: Speaking to The Washington Examiner‘s Byron York, Rick Santorum declined to join Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry in attacking Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital from the left: “When we start playing into this ‘Capitalism is bad, and people who make money, even through failure, are bad’ idea, I think we play into the Left. I don’t want to do that.”
Perry: RedState‘s Erick Erickson reports that Rick Perry’s campaign has ditched their national consultants and is going with local operatives in South Carolina.
Around the Bigs
The Washington Examiner, Obama convenes meeting on ‘in-sourcing’ U.S. jobs: President Obama will gather academics and business executives at the White House Wednesday to discuss how to encourage American companies to keep more jobs at home instead of sending them to cheaper labor markets overseas.
The Wall Street Journal, German Economy Likely Shrunk at End of 2011: According to government statistics released this morning, Germany’s economy likely contracted by around 0.25% in the fourth quarter of last year.
The Wall Street Journal, Fed’s Lofty Profit Becomes Treasury’s Gain: The Federal Reserve turned $76.9 billion of its profits over to the U.S. Treasury last year, thanks to gains generated in its expanding portfolio of securities.
The Wall Street Journal, Fannie Mae CEO Williams Resigns: Fannie Mae Chief Executive Michael Williams resigned yesterday. Williams had been with Fannie for 21 years and had been CEO since April 2009.
The Washington Post, For those hurting most, Fed’s remedies limited: The Federal Reserve has spent hundreds of billions trying to help the economy, but its limited policy options have mostly benefited the affluent.
Righty Playbook
The Wall Street Journal editorial board compares Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich to Michael Moore and adds “by any reasonable measure Bain Capital has been a net job and wealth creator.”
Rush Limbaugh played audio clips of Obama and Gingrich yesterday, showing that Gingrich’s attacks on Romney’s tenure at Bain sound exactly like Obama.
AEI’s James Pethokoukis responds to Bill Kristol’s defense of Gingrich’s attack on Bain.
Lefty Playbook
Talking Points Memo notes that Obama has tons of positions he needs to fill, but not many opportunities when the Senate is out of town when he can recess appoint them.
Paul Krugman asks, “Why does anyone believe that success in business qualified someone to make economic policy?”
Firedoglake‘s David Dayen reports that Indiana state Democrats walked out of the state capitol again yesterday to protest Republican efforts to pass a right-to-work law.
