Newt Isn’t Going Anywhere, Says Newt
He may be forecasted to suffer a double-digit loss to Mitt Romney in today’s Florida primary, but Newt Gingrich isn’t going anywhere. At a Tampa campaign stop Monday, Gingrich reminded supporters that “he’s been left for dead before in this campaign — twice, in fact, and wrongly,” writes Politico’s Alexander Burns. Gingrich has vowed to stick it out until the Republican nominating convention in August, causing top Republicans heartburn. “I’m concerned that if we don’t have a nominee earlier rather than later, it could” hinder Republicans’ chances of defeating President Obama, said Republican Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl. “If they continue doing what they’ve been doing the past week, it probably wouldn’t be the best thing for the Republican nominee who eventually wins.” At his most recent appearance, on Tuesday morning at a polling site in Florida, Gingrich didn’t seem to be softening his rhetoric in the slightest. When asked how much longer his campaign would continue, Gingrich predicted a long road: “I would say probably six months … unless Mitt Romney drops out earlier.” [Politico, Politico, Talking Points Memo, MSNBC]
In other campaign news:
• While Florida will almost certainly go to Romney in the Tuesday primary, exit polls and county-by-county data will still be telling. Romney’s margin of victory over Gingrich is important, writes Reid Epstein of Politico, as are Hispanic voters’ turnout and results out of evangelical-leaning Northeast Florida. [Politico]
• Obama should establish more of a link between policies that benefit the middle class and the resulting economic growth, writes the Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky. [Daily Beast]
• The president raised a (whopping) combined $68 million for his campaign and the Democratic Party, according to fresh numbers out from the Federal Election Commission. [Washington Post]
• On the other hand, Obama is struggling in battleground states, where his job approval numbers are sagging. [National Journal]
• Romney supporters — and the former Massachusetts governor himself — have said that he pays closer to a 50 percent tax rate, rather than the 13.9 percent rate publicized in recent weeks. That’s untrue, according to the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson, who grilled four economists on double taxation and capital gains. [The Atlantic]
• Romney’s relentlessly negative campaigning may have hurt Gingrich, perhaps mortally, but it’s taking a toll on Romney himself. In a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, 49 percent of the respondents nationwide held an unfavorable view of him, while only 31 percent had a favorable one – a reversal from last September. [NY Times]
• Not that Gingrich is taking the high road. A Gingrich-supporting robocall accuses Romney of forcing Holocaust survivors to eat non-kosher food. [Politico]