Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich heldcenter stage at last night’s debate in North Charleston, S.C. (David Goldman/AP)
It's not because he's surging in the polls going into the election. It's not because his performances at two conveniently-timed debates this week were phenomenally well-recevied. It's not because so many South Carolina voters who fancy themselves "conservatives" are yearning for an electable alternative to Mitt Romney. It's not because he was lionized as the target of a beyond-despicable hit by the drive-by media involving one of his ex-wives. It's not because his two daughters' increased presence on the campaign trail and in the press have quelled voters' misgivings about his personal transgressions. It's not because the revelation that Romney did not actually make history by placing first in both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary dispelled the aura of inevitability that had previously surrounded the frontrunner. It's not because of his unique ability to make a regional appeal to voters in a way that his opponents--who aren't from the Southeastern U.S.--can't. It's not because he was able to wrest control of the narrative from the news media, while Romney got knocked off course by the persistent questions about his tax returns.
No...wait...it's all of those things. Newt Gingrich, who led the Republican field by double digits in South Carolina until this month, when he saw his poll numbers crater as they had throughout the country, has come roaring back in the state that has picked the eventual Republican nominee for president in every election since 1980. The question at the front of my mind is not whether he'll win the primary tomorrow, but rather, how big will his margin be? (Actually, it's more like, "Why are you blogging when you have more important and consequential things to do?") My prediction: Gingrich will win tomorrow, and he'll win big. Probably by double digits. It will be a win so big that Romney may not be able to put him away in Florida. It won't be enough to make him the new frontrunner, but it will most likely compel Santorum to call it quits, and it's pretty hard to envision the former Pennsylvania senator throwing his support to anyone but the former Speaker.
Unfortunately the Republicans have been their own worse enemy. They have managed through all the negative debates to implode their own cause and will end up handing the next presidential term to Obama. The Democrats are sitting back relishing all of this. It's too bad because our great country is in serious need of a prudent, conservative to help mend what Obama has practically destroyed. Obama has basically treated his time in office like he was selected as the latest judge on American Idol and his monthly income went up by 1 million, so just tour the talk shows, trick out your new fleet of presidential limos and planes, redecorate some things in the White House, toss a few parties with the tons of Hollywood Dems, watch the media talk about Mrs. Obama's great arms in her sleeveless sheath dresses, oh and go out on a few "date nights" using hundreds of thousands of taxpayer's money in the secret service manpower it will take to pull those dinner dates off. It's been like locking up a diabetic in a donut shop for a few years.
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