Man, Did I Get That One Wrong

Posted by Bob Lord 

So, in the aftermath of the Iowa caucuses, where Mitt had carpet bombed Newt into oblivion and Newt had given his beyond bitter caucus night speech, I thought I had Newt figured out. It seemed to me that he entered the race not so much to win, but to rejuvenate his image. Then, when Mitt went into personal attack mode, I thought the campaign became a personal thing. My sense was that Newt was not staying in to win as much as he was staying in to make sure Mitt lost. At the time, Santorum was penniless and not winning many votes in the state immediately following Iowa, so Newt logically would believe only he was up to the task of destroying Mitt. And, no question, things were personal between Newt and Mitt. 

If I’d had it right, Newt logically would be stepping aside right now, as his continuing campaign clearly is a benefit to Mitt, whereas his departure would dramatically strengthen Santorum’s chances. So, is Newt going to take advantage of the opportunity to deal a possibly deadly blow to Mitt? Not so much: 

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/newt-gingrich-rick-santorum_n_1327703.html

 OK, it was a nice hypothesis, but dead wrong. Newt staying in the race now seems to be unrelated to his personal feelings towards Mitt, and more about his own megalomania. And he’s gone from praising Santorum after Iowa, to all out attack mode on him.

 Oh well.