2012 republican presidential nominee III: can romney get santorum out of his hair?

Just want to commend M.White for his multiple truth bombs yesterday on this thread.

Modern political life:

Darlene Kleckley was at home recovering from knee surgery one recent afternoon when she heard the phone ring. It does that a lot these days.

When her answering machine clicked on, she heard Mitt Romney’s voice greeting her husband.

“He said: ‘Hi, William. This is Mitt,’ ” recalled Ms. Kleckley, 65, a retired university administrator.

This struck her as odd for two reasons. First, her husband died in September. “And besides,” she added, “no one called him William. Everybody called him Bill.”

“Oh, it’s awful,” sighed Tina Hampton, 59, an office administrator. Her mailbox is filled with glossy brochures from candidates and the “super PACs” that support them. Her television blares with sniping politicians in commercial breaks of her favorite shows. Her respite at work, an iPod Touch that plays soothing music through Pandora radio, was overtaken by Rick Perry ads. “It’s a scourge,” she said.

“Last night, I was trying to watch ‘American Idol.’ I was like, I just want to watch Steven Tyler,” Ms. Hampton said. “I don’t care that Newt has lied and that Santorum has lied and that Romney has lied, and that everybody is just a bunch of big, fat liars.”

She added: “I’d really just like to see a coffee commercial. Seriously.”

Ms. Hampton sifted through her mail Thursday, having left it unchecked for two days this week. Upon retrieval, 12 pieces of political literature were waiting for her: four from Ron Paul, four from Mitt Romney, three from the pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, and one from a group called Strong America Now, which is supporting Mr. Gingrich. “I have no idea what’s in these things because they just go in the garbage,” she said, pausing to glance at one of the Paul letters, which was written on letterhead that said “From the Desk of Jedd Coburn.”

“Who is Jedd Coburn?” Ms. Hampton groaned. (He worked for the National Right to Work Committee, an antiunion group.)

When Cory Ezzell arrived at his downtown law office on Tuesday, after a long holiday weekend, his voice mailbox was so full he thought he was facing a crisis.

But there was no emergency. Just eight separate pleas from politicians and their surrogates, most supporting Mr. Romney. One was from Senator John McCain of Arizona lauding “my good friend Mitt Romney.” Another was Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, saying that Mr. Romney “will work tirelessly to stop labor crews from coming in and controlling your economy.”

One invited Mr. Ezzell to an event featuring Mr. Romney with the Nascar legend David Pearson. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum had left messages, too.

“Getting these calls makes my blood pressure shoot up,” Mr. Ezzell, 31, said, adding that he plans to vote for Mr. Gingrich. “They are a tremendous waste of my time.” He said he still got three to four a day.

Frankly, I kinda want these people pissed off at their purported candidates.

rip bill he was a voter

Gingrich harbors all the contempt for Obama that has marked his party for the last four years; I want to see that play out in a big way. Romney vs. Obama will feel like a cheat; it won't be the right match-up in view of the last four years.

yeah this is fascinating & otm; in an entirely social way it would be so fascinating & hopefully cathartic for a lot of the more personal anti-Obama shit to be played out

social as in not political

I'm amused how "the last 4 years" -- 3 actually, we take a full year off for this wank -- only can be represented by the idiot extremes.

(ie, ppl who think Bam is a socialist vs ppl who think Bam is a liberal)

well, whatever else it may be (deluded, for instance), thinking of obama as a liberal is hardly "extreme". it's pretty much the definition of centrism, which of course = right-of-centrism these days. it's a position of despondent, defeated acceptance, not radicalism of any stripe.

Another SC voter speaks:

“If you could mix them together, then maybe you’d have someone,” said Kelly Burrell, 32, a single mother working at a cellphone cover kiosk in a Spartanburg mall. “Like, if you had a cross between Newt and Ron Paul, maybe with a little Santorum thrown in, we’d be great.”

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rVz64IizjuY/TZ3jtCNx3eI/AAAAAAAAABw/3HydK9J0mkY/s320/250px-Blinky.jpg

maybe with a little Santorum thrown in, we’d be great
maybe with a little Santorum thrown in, we’d be great
maybe with a little Santorum thrown in, we’d be great
maybe with a little Santorum thrown in, we’d be great

The Island of Dr Rove

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly61fj6o0a1qdmmiqo1_r1_500.gif

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/files/2012/01/KingDCD.jpg

hahaha, I looked at that for 15 seconds waiting for King to move or blink

Thing is, in the original clip (go to around the 50-second mark), King's head barely moves at all. Maybe ZS can animate that still and make his head fall off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc4lnlDVW3o&feature=related

C'mon, he's ZS, not LSUFreek.

Gingrich puts the fire in the potbellies of young conservative

I lol'd

clemenza, do you really think Romney has a chance? There's no need to hope Gingrich gets the nomination -- Romney's done.

Huh? Surely Romney is still the nominee, barring something crazy happening, right?

well, I hear Reagan's still dead.

Heard my first interview with someone on unemployment proclaiming their support of Ron Paul.

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly649iixpI1qdmmiqo1_r1_500.gif
http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly64h1ej5E1qdmmiqo1_500.gif

I would describe Newt's color there as burnt umbrage.

Heard my first interview with someone on unemployment proclaiming their support of Ron Paul.

unemployment is ok for (formerly) hard-working white ppl whose jobs and prospects have been destroyed by the Obamacare economy

possible i misheard or misinterpreted but p sure Fox had a poll earlier showing that Gingrich's support among SC GOP primary voter women was higher than among males. what is this amazing magnetism Newt has with teh ladeez? (cf Dr. Ablow's column from upthread)

The man in action:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/288821/gingrich-south-carolinians-start-telling-your-florida-friends-vote-me-katrina-trinko

And what the

http://www.mediaite.com/online/romney-to-send-cake-to-gingrich-hq-to-celebrate-15th-anniversary-of-ethics-scandal/

There are strict rules against campaigning in polling places. And Mr. Santorum's sweater vest was in violation of them on Saturday.

...Anne Danciu, one of the volunteers enforcing the no-campaigning rules, took one of her spare name tags that said "poll worker" and had Mr. Santorum stick it on over the logo. But there was a problem. The sticker was too small to cover the entire logo. So Ms. Danciu took some masking tape and gave it to Mr. Santorum to cover the parts of that were still peeking through.

...Asked what Mr. Santorum was doing in the gym if he wasn't campaigning, Ms. Danciu replied, "He was showing off his sweater vest."

thinking of obama as a liberal is hardly "extreme". it's pretty much the definition of centrism, which of course = right-of-centrism these days.

well, I don't mean "extremist" in the fire-breathing way you seem to. I mean extreme in the self-delusion that a center-right pol matches the dictionary definition of liberal for comfort's sake.

NEWT!!!

6:17 pm
Nate Silver
Is Romney Still Ahead in Florida?
Florida is a reasonably strong state for Mitt Romney. But it's not clear how large his lead is there, even before accounting for anything that might happen tonight.

FiveThirtyEight's current forecast of Florida shows Mr. Romney with 46 percent of the vote there to 25 percent for Newt Gingrich -- a 21-point lead.

Essentially all of the polling data used for the forecast, however, predates the Monday night debate in Myrtle Beach; since then, there has been a dramatic reversal of fortunes in the Republican race. Mr. Romney lost 15 points off his national polling lead in the Gallup national tracking poll over this period. There has been an even larger swing -- a net of about 21 points between Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich -- in South Carolina.

If the Florida polls have swung as much as the national polls during the past several days, Mr. Romney would have only about a five-point lead there now. And if the Florida polls have swung as much as the South Carolina polls have during the last week, Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney would now be essentially tied.

that would be something, wouldn't it?

feelin the newtbrations

Newtmentum is growing

nothing can withstand newtonium

Note some of the comments and polling data Sullivan's flagging -- jeez Louise:

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/01/live-blogging-the-south-carolina-results.html

Also there are apparently a LOT of comments floating around online/via TV about the whole Romney's-a-Mormon-so-yuck thing...so maybe it is a thing?

we are doomed if the sentiments of online comments are a bellwether for the future

NEWT! BOOM!

Hahaha teleprompter jokes, this guy newt, so funny

If you go to my website, I have a 54-page paper you can read!

Holy crap he is gonna keep pushing the food stamp thing.

lol http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/live-coverage-of-the-south-carolina-primary/?src=twt&twt=fivethirtyeight#obama-campaign-needling-romney

That's great, ZS.

Just getting home from a film--fantastic. I know most of you have given up on Sullivan, but I think he has it exactly right: "This is what the GOP now is, and it deserves its spokesman. But do not under-estimate the appeal to some of the idea of humiliating and removing the first black president. That's what Gingrich is really about. He is giving them what they want."

republicans are suicidal http://polltracker.talkingpointsmemo.com/contest/us-favorability-gingrich

http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/polls_gop_suicide_4337_123568_poll_xlarge.jpg?w=200&h=134

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/01/21/us/politics/fivethirtyeight-0121-axelrodtweet/fivethirtyeight-0121-axelrodtweet-blog480-v2.png

From David Wiegel:

Forty-five percent of voters ranked "can defeat Obama" as the supremo quality they want in a nominee. Gingrich won them over Romney, 51-37. Why? Tony Shipley, a Tennessee state representative who runs Newt's campaign there, explained it to me. "He will LACERATE Obama in a debate. He will absolutely ANNIHILATE him."

First of all, Newt wouldn't.

And second of all,

http://www.local10.com/image/view/-/4691582/medRes/2/-/maxh/360/maxw/640/-/moomv0/-/bush-kerry-debate-jpg.jpg

debates aren't that much of a thing anymore.

over what, i wonder?? mandated health coverage? cap'n trade? o wait, i know -- food stamps!!