TAMPA, Fla. — Coming off a decisive loss to Newt Gingrich in South Carolina, Mitt Romney needed to do three things to win the Florida primary: 1) attack Gingrich with a level of ferocity not yet seen in the already-contentious Republican presidential campaign; 2) raise the level of his performance in debate; and 3) improve his on-the-stump message to give voters more substance and fewer platitudes.
For his part, Gingrich had two must-dos: 1) deal with Romney’s attacks in a calmer, more seasoned way than Gingrich handled the last Romney barrage, during the campaign in Iowa; and 2) keep up the solid message he rode to victory in South Carolina.
Over the past week in Florida, Romney did nearly everything right; his ads hit hard and his debate performance was dominating, even if he improved only marginally on the stump. And Gingrich did nearly everything wrong. The result was a decisive 14-point victory for Romney, who now has two primary victories to Gingrich’s one.
First, the attacks. When Gingrich complained that he had been carpet bombed by Romney, he was right. Romney and his allies spent about $15 million on ads in Florida — perhaps three times Gingrich’s total — on an almost entirely negative campaign. That’s no exaggeration; on Tuesday afternoon, afternoon, ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reported that, “The only positive Romney ad aired over the past week was single Spanish-language radio ad.” Indeed, 68 percent of all ads aired in Florida were Romney attacks on Gingrich.
Gingrich did not learn the lesson of Romney’s first wave of attacks against him. At that time, Gingrich reacted angrily and publicly, complaining constantly and accusing Romney of lying. Voters in New Hampshire who were once open to Gingrich’s candidacy turned away from him, saying his hot-tempered response to the ads — rather than the ads themselves — just turned them off. (See Why Gingrich Tanked from January 7.)
Read More at The Washington Examiner By Byron York, The Washington Examiner
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I believe that now is the time to separate Conservatives from the Republican Party. What has to be done is, Newt Gingrich, Fred Thompson, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Herman Cain and all true Conservatives must form a political party apart from the standard Republican Party. It’s quite apparent that Conservatives no longer think the way that the standard party does. The attacks on Gingrich by Romney, shows there are ideological differences between their beliefs. Many Conservatives will not support Romney and those who will support him, will only do so because they do not want Obama to be re-elected. I think there has to be a movement started and I hope it happens soon. I will gladly do anything I can do, to facilitate such a movement!
Most of those you are calling “Conservatives” are Leftist “MODERates….If the election is between Obama and Gingrich or Romney, might as well give it to Obama, as he has no conscience and will destroy this country, withing another four years. One of the others it may take a little longer, but they too are Globalists believers in big government. This country MUST be reduced to the level of a third world country, and it will be regardless of who is elected, unless some TRUE conservative comes forth!! It IS going to happen!! They belong to the CFR, and ALL Obama’s policys are CFR policy’s!! and will be continued!! You can kiss our prosperity goodbye!!