Things have gotten lively in New Hampshire the last couple of days. In the Republican primary there tomorrow Mitt Romney is widely expected to win (see New Hampshire polling info) in a state that borders Massachusetts, where he once was governor. The rest of the field is angling for second place. Still, the unRomneys have taken a break from savaging each other and are now turning their fire on the frontrunner.
Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry have all lashed out at Romney. Word is out that Gingrich's "unaffiliated" Super PAC has received a $5 million gift from Las Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson to hit Romney for destroying jobs during his days as CEO of Bain Capital. Romney didn't help himself any on this score by today declaring, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."
The real dynamics of this may play out in South Carolina, where Romney currently polls about 10 points ahead of Santorum and Gingrich. For the conservatives to have a chance, they really need to narrow the field. Huntsman doesn't figure to be much of a factor in South Carolina and it will likely be Perry's last stand. If Romney can hang on there, winning against a crowded field with 30% of the vote, his inevitability campaign may well start to run the table and effectively lock things up in February. On the other hand, if Perry, Huntsman and one of the others drops out after that, the survivor might have a chance to get Romney in a one on one and start to come up with a win here and there.
Either way, it certainly is interesting to see conservative Republican pols smacking a fellow GOPer for being a heartless businessman willing to sacrifice the livelihoods of regular workers to pad his own profits. If this seems a productive line of attack for them to take in a Republican primary campaign, just imagine what nominee Romney would likely face from the Democrats in a national campaign.
2 comments:
In my opinion the Republican establishment has already settled on Romney. That is the reason Perry was forced back into the race. His role is to further split the "conservative" vote. Romney may be the first candidate to win the nomination without a clear majority of the electorate.
I agree the Republican establishment has settled on Romney and is actively pushing him now.
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