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

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!!

That seems crazy for a similar reason that I'm not inclined to put much weight on the claims that the economy will have to improve markedly to re-elect Obama: he's been holding steady without actually having to step into the ring. The rest of the year will feature a lot of Obama in front of a mike, and that's where his genius lies. He'll be able to focus on actually popular things he's done, and a large chunk of the unpopular shit will be off limits to anyone the Republicans are going to throw at him short of Ron Paul. That said, if Newt's limbo skills allow him to turn socialist in order to attack Romney, maybe he'll be putting flowers in gun barrels by November.

xpost to clemenza

pplains - a debate just turned this bad boy around for Newt!

eh with multiple debates I wouldn't be surprised if newt 'won' some, winning is more about the media arbitrarily deciding you exceeded expectations / got the right zings in / etc

man, gop really going into hyper-mcgovern mode, except nixon wasn't beatable

I agree totally on pplains' first point--I'm just fascinated by the certainty of Republicans who hold that view.

As many others have observed, I think the debates were important to Obama in 1980 in the same way they were important to Reagan in 1980: they helped each establish a comfort level with voters who needed reassurance.

(The only thing I'd point out about Obama holding steady is that he's been holding steady at a 40-45% approval rating for the past year.)

(that wouldn't matter tho dude would still lose by a ten point margin) xp

Obama in 2008, I mean.

iatee: do you think tonight is just a lot of meaningless noise?