Threats to Romney in New Hampshire
After a gazillion GOP debates, after dozens of gaffes by the candidates, after trunks of revelations unearthed from the attics of their careers, and after gallons of ink and hours of sounds bites that have kept scores of pundits in whiskey and steaks, the awful truth remains for Willard “Mitt” Romney: Too many anybody-but-Mitt Republicans would rather settle for a bit of a whacky bird whose hyperbole borders on deceit or a cowboy with the memory of a gnat or a business guy who might be creepy or, now, a pro with an ego the size of a hot-air balloon and more baggage than three divas on tour.
An editorial this weekend in the influential New Hampshire Union-Leader said in endorsing the candidacy of former House speaker Newt Gingrich: "We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear."
With the New Hampshire primary only 43 days away, Romney still maintains a substantial lead and has a good shot of winning the first bona fide presidential primary in Election 2012. According to the Real Clear Politics average of four recent New Hampshire polls, Romney has 36.8 percent vs. 18.5 for Gingrich, 13.3 for Ron Paul, and 8.3 for Jon Huntsman. But Romney’s strength in New Hampshire has been dwindling, and those polls were taken before the Union-Leader endorsement. And now Romney faces a full frontal threat from the Gingrich Moment and has to worry about the resilient and underrated Paul army on one flank and a vigorous effort by a rising Huntsman on the other.
On CNN’s State of the Union, Union-Leader editorial page editor Andrew Cline said: “…Romney is a very play-it-safe candidate. He doesn't want to offend everybody -- or anybody. He wants to be liked. He wants to try to reach out and … bring everybody on board. Right now, we're in a lot of trouble in this country. We need a candidate that is bold in his leadership, that has a vision for where he wants to take the country and knows how to get there.”
On Meet the Press, that point was, surprisingly, echoed by Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. He said of Gingrich: “…Look, I give him some credit for not just blowing with the winds on an issue like immigration. That showed some real courage, and I think people are looking for courage and leadership.”
Later on Meet the Press, former Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, now executive editor of Random House, said: “…People don't trust Romney in the Republican Party because he has seemed to be all things to all people. When he was the Massachusetts governor, he was a Rockefeller Republican. When he wanted to be the Republican nominee, he became more conservative. And I think that there's a great unease here that continues and shows no sign of abating.”
“But the irony here is Newt and Romney are very similar kinds of politicians in a lot of ways,” said Rich Lowry of the National Review. “They're both center-right, both smooth-talking in their own ways, they've both been prone to compromise, and they both have flip-flopped a lot over the years. Now, Romney did it in one fell swoop when he left Massachusetts for the Republican primary fight in '08. Gingrich has done it serially over time because as much of a historian [as he imagines himself], he also imagines himself a futurist. So he's constantly looking for the hot new thing.”
“He also has an incredible capacity to trip himself up,” said Meacham “…Remember, this was going to be the age of Gingrich -- in 1994, '95. And he got outmaneuvered by President Clinton.”
“The question of whether Newt can sustain [his momentum] or not is a serious question,” Cokie Roberts said on ABC’s This Week with Christiane Amanpour. “We've all known him a long time, since he came [to Washington] in 1978. And he is as smart as they come. He's one of the greatest strategists you've ever seen. He is so interesting. But he's undisciplined.”
