Mitt Romney knows how to read a poll. With the numbers swinging in Newt Gingrich’s favor on the day of the South Carolina primary, the Romney team is abruptly lowering expectations and laying the groundwork for a tougher than anticipated race.
“I think I said from the very beginning South Carolina is an uphill battle for a guy from Massachusetts,” Romney told reporters on Friday. “I knew that we’re battling hard.”
It’s standard fare to tamp down the stakes going into a race, but it’s nonetheless a pretty jarring transition heading into a primary that many thought would end the Republican nomination fight once and for all. Gingrich, for his part, has said he expects Romney will win the nomination if he takes South Carolina.
After mostly avoiding attacks on Gingrich since his collapse in Iowa in New Hampshire, Romney’s campaign has quickly returned to the fray. On Friday, they challenged Gingrich to release a Congressional investigation into his alleged ethics violations. But, as TPM reported, the report is actually already public.
Gingrich’s challenge to Romney to release his tax returns, however, is quickly gaining traction. Romney says he’ll make public at least his most recent return in April, but he got booed at Thursday’s debate for hedging on the details and timing of the release.
“If there’s anything in there thats going to help us lose the election we should know,” Gingrich, who released his own returns for the year that very night, said in response. “If there’s nothing in there why not release it?”
Even Romney’s own loyalists seem to be siding with Gingrich on this one. Scott Brown and Chris Christie, two of his top supporters, have both publicly called on Romney to release his returns.
Adding to the pressure, the Iowa state GOP recently declared Rick Santorum the official winner of the Iowa caucuses, meaning Romney will have only won one state — and one in which he was heavily favored — heading into Florida next week should Gingrich prevail on Saturday. Add it up and some Romney aides are openly talking about a prolonged primary, an idea that seemed almost unthinkable just a few short days ago.
“I think you’re going to see the same kind of long slog that you saw in ‘76, with Ford and Reagan, that it took the whole thing to win,” Former NH Gov. John Sununu, a key Romney surrogate, told reporters on Friday. “[Romney]’s never suggested one or two or three primaries or caucuses would make the difference. The whole campaign has been designed to go through the long slog.”
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
davidasr Wouldn't you have done the same if Mitt had won? It's all good, except for the poor shirt...
yay......................can you see her.............
Sure can
=)
Yay!
Bwakfat haha...that's probably considered copyright infringement under the sopa/pipa laws that were under consideration.
sringr Head over here
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/what-jus...
Just the kind f figure needed in that thread.
;)
Or maybe not
Yikes!
Bwakfat sometimes to escape the sickos the best thing to do is stay on an old thread until the craziness passes...or is dealt with by tpm. And hopefully soon...they need to take those trolls and block them PDQ
Bwakfat you can't see it but it says: Pray for the Dead, and Fight like Hell for the Living - Mother Jones.
sringr One of my heros, too.
=)
Time to send in what's left of Howard Hughes' Mormon mafia.
@Mickey Bitsko "Hey Mitt, why don't you go watch Ice Station Zebra a few more times. We'll take it from here."
peterprinciple Launch the GSF Explorer!
ok, now i got me a questionmark for an avatar...so i guess that's progress...i'll get this damn thing, testing 1,2,3
sringr I lost my pre-existing avatar for about 2 years when they were doing "minor" improvements on the site; just got it back last week.
lol, at least R Paul came in fourth ..... how many were running again?
Fenestrate In reality? None.
davidasr nah. For sure Newt was running. Just look at how pale and sweaty he is.
Fenestrate I just had to listen to the racist windbag's noisy rant. - Yucch!
Newt's latest tweet: "this campaign proves that the quantum fibirilation of the austro-hungarian empire when compared to a syncronatic repatriation of the syncretic socialism of hey i'm not done ye"
@Mickey Bitsko I see Newt was being more lucid than usual.
peterprinciple@mickey "Essentially, for Pete's sake".
he sure uses a lot of words to say absolutely nothing.
this romneybot lives in an alternative universe...somewhere out there btwn the time/space continuum...dickwad.
Herman Cain at 0.7%. Go Colbert!
ok, its says my avatar has been changed...from what i don't know...hopefully from anonymous grey silhouette person to something else i picked....testing one, two, three...
dang
sringr Patience. It takes a little while.
Doremus Jessup 2.0 my luck if it does come up in awhile it'll be cropped all wrong and unrecognizable. thanks again though.
sringrDoremus Jessup 2.0 Try hitting the "refresh" button twice on your browser. That's what I had to do to make mine "take."
sringr Here's my email sringer, and I'm not shy about giving it out (that's what spam spam spam eggs spam bacon ham and spam filters are for)... davidasr@yahoo.com
Even if all you use it for is here on TPM I can walk you through setting up a Yahoo account, uploading an avatar/profile picture, set your privacy (ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm... block all).
If I'm logged on to my Yahoo account and I want to comment on a thread here a box comes up asking how I want to log in to do so I just click the Yahoo tab and there I go.
Since the polls have closed in SC can we all go home and wait for them to come up with an answer like they did in Iowa?
maitaiquinn Breaking: Rick Santorum wins Iowa.
The Associated Press is reporting that Godzilla will be attacking Tokyo tomorrow at 7 am. Again.
Mickey Bitsko It's already tomorrow in Tokyo Mickey... Or did you mean tomorrow tomorrow? Today tomorrow? The day after yesterday but not today? If you're going to get all metaphysical on us at least share your liquid inspiration.
davidasr Like Christine O'Donnell, I set my sundial by Greenwitch Mean Time.
davidasrMickey Bitsko wow, serious solipsism.
maitaiquinndavidasr Or as Newt calls it, sloppy seconds?
Mickey Bitskomaitaiquinndavidasr Ack!
Mickey Bitsko The only real question here is if Newt is taking SC is he doing it with his nwetular breath?
i'm just checking to see if i got an avatar...testing..one, two, three
sringr just generic
eh,
sringr Sometimes it takes several minutes.
(crosses chicken fingers)
Bwakfatsringr I've got two different avatars. Go figure that one out.
maitaiquinnsringr Awwwww, do I have to? :)
Bwakfatsringr Or months..... and then only if one stands on their right foot while making circles in the air with their left foot.
Don't recall what FINALLY did the trick for me but if it disappears again, I may just get a lobotomy.
Hoodathunksringr and a new handle. What kind of weasel is that?
Exit polls are showing that most GOP voters are asking, "Is this what having a job is like?"
Mickey Bitsko Unemployed people are corporations, my friend.
Newt wins SC... I just hurled all over the Union t-shirt my wife was wearing; http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/abc-projects-ne...
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