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Newt Loses Florida!

By: dkolonia (Diary)  |  January 27th, 2012 at 02:11 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Or did he?

Clearly, Newt changed his tactics in the last two debates this week. It was very clear to anyone who has watched his other performances that something was different. Why? Was he tired? Was the questioning ‘changed’ by the networks to make sure Newt did not have a “Newt Moment” again? Was this a strategic move on Gingrich’s part? I guess only Newt and insiders at his campaign know the answer to those questions.

Whatever the case may be I know there are a lot of disappointed ‘Newt Fans’ out there tonight. Many of us were hoping that someone, anyone could beat Mitt Romney. It seemed like Newt missed so many opportunities to score points. Also, Romney stepped up his game tonight. While he was still not great he did show improvement in style enough to make the media and Republican establishment breath a sign of relief. They think they put Newt back in his place tonight and Romney can take a giant step towards the nomination with a win in Florida now.

So did Newt lose the Florida primary tonight with his debate performance? I don’t think so. Sure, he did not perform the way many wanted him to but are we to really think that people vote just based on what they see in a debate? How many people could have even watched that debate that will be voting Tuesday? The truth is probably not that many. I know my sister and her family did not watch it. My Mother did not watch it. In fact, none of my friends in Florida watched it either.

Newt did OK in the debate.  He was not bad at all. No Perry moments, not even close. He made his points well. Newt just did not hit one out of the park. It is not realistic to think he can do that in every debate. The expectations were just too high for him to meet after the South Carolina debates.

Lets hope the people in Florida working for Newt are not depressed because that is exactly what the Romney people and RINO’s are hoping for! Florida is NOT lost by any means. Maybe Newt knows what he is doing. If not and he loses then so be it. But never give up before the game is over. Tim Tebow proved that many, many times this year.

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COMMENTS

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  • jcm9079

    I only saw the second half of the debate and thought Newt did good! My ex-wife called and told me she is voting for Newt tonight. She had not even watched the debate and never watched any of them.

    • greenpoint

      Many people didn’t watch the debate, granted. But many “heard” that Newt lost it to Romney which is just as damaging, if not more so.

  • jackoftrades

    Did not see the debate. I hate them. Newt is the best pick out of the four.

  • Archer

    I missed the whole debate.

    I’d imagine that Newt was somewhat dispirited that almost everyone in the Republican party leadership has shown themselves to be without character or honor by either promoting this smear campaign against Gingrich or by staying silent when they know it isn’t true.

    Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and Michael Reagan showed some true backbone today by standing up to the establishment’s smear narrative but those three aren’t exactly the party leadership, are they?

    • Dave_A

      After all, he’s an establishment candidate who’s pissed off everyone in the establishment & is now kept afloat only by the fact that he’s not Mitt Romney….

      Apparently being ‘not Romney’ is enough for people to ignore their nearly identical political positions, and Newt’s horrid personal baggage…

      The only question is weather Newt’s facade lasts long enough to keep him in the race to the end, and if so, is simply not being Romney enough to beat Romney (usually, ‘I’m not the other guy’ is not a winning tactic – especially when there’s little difference)…

  • beach91

    did not watch the debate and have not watched any of the last 3 or 4 of them. I am in FL and there are 4 in my house that are voting for Newt. This became clear once Perry dropped out…

  • matteroffact

    Sure, debates sway people. More than they should though. Newt should not have taken Romney’s bait last night. Even the TV people were saying he should not do that. Wonder why he did.

    • jonsayer

      Seems like the media plays up their spin of what happened so much that it does influence people to change how they vote.

      • Dave_A

        When the only thing you bring to the table is your ability to debate, anything less than a perfect debate performance is a significant negative…

        And that’s Newt – his only offerings are ‘I’m not Mitt’ and ‘I do well in TV debates’….

      • clowngirl

        It’s not just that Romney and his PAC are outspending Newt and his PAC 5 to 1, Winning the Future says that the Florida tv stations are holding up a lot of their ads. Creating needless redtape and extra paperwork to prove every fact — and they aren’t requiring anything like that from the Romney camp.

        Apparently they think elections are too important to be left up to voters.

        • Ann_W

          Sounds like whining from Newt when things aren’t going his way.

        • Common_Cents

          Are they now declaring themselves the arbiters of the truth in political ads?

          This is getting real pathetic and obvious.

  • Common_Cents

    That was true in SC but you didn’t hear about it. It didn’t fit the media narrative, it was all about debates. Maybe the media is doing Newt a favor by underestimating him.

    It is true in FL as well, but you don’t hear about it. It just doesn’t jive w/ the media narrative! So it’s not reported. Newt is set up to surprise once again on Tuesday.

  • clowngirl

    Newt doesn’t live or die by the debates. And I agree with dkolonia that these last debate really wasn’t that bad. (Newt had a couple of spectacular debates in SC and so they want to raise the bar for him to that level- and spin anything less than undeniable domination as a huge loss)

    And it’s not like Florida voters are only going to watch the 2 debates in their state.

    There’s other facts, also, that Romney and Co would prefer everyone ignore:

    Romney’s been getting maybe a couple hundred people at a rally – Newt’s drawing thousands.

    In a hypothetically 2 man race — Gingrich wins 52-35.

    Newt’s been endorsed by 2 former frontrunners — Romney by 2 guys who were always basically a non factor — and only one of those endorsements seemed sincere.

    Santorum staying in is keeping Romney on life support.

    It’s Romney who desperately needs to win in Florida – if he loses his campaign it’s effectively over. (there’s only so many new lies they can come up with and Romney’s own baggage is starting to come out) Not so for Newt.

  • greyeagle

    A lot of people don’t bother with the debates. After you saw 4 or 5, it was pretty much a waste of time. After Governor Perry was forced out, I lost interest. I say the one the other night, but it did not determine whom I would vote for, it was a matter that I won’t vote for Romney. He is trying to buy this election. The GOP establishment and National Committee have fouled up with these endless debates and trying to shove Romney down our throats. Voters are turned off. The voters in Florida may not take poll questions, and the location of the voter turn out will determine the winner. Not the ads, polls and debates.

  • lapert

    The ratings of the two FL debates suggest that people are still paying attention. The NBC debate was the second most watched and the CNN debate had nearly the exact number of viewers as the two SC debates a week earlier that gave Newt momentum there.

  • jkilgore1776

    but I guess people still go back and forth on who they will vote for based on how well the candidate did in the last debate. That is part of our problem in this country. The wishy-washy moderates decide who gets elected. That is a scary thought and look what it has produced.