THE
GOP
FINALLY BELIEVES IT CAN DEFEAT OBAMA
By: John LeBoutillier
With the clean sweep of five more Republican primaries, Mitt Romney has clearly
secured the GOP presidential nomination. And – for the first time – even
previously-cynical members of the Republican Establishment now believe Romney has a real
chance to defeat President Obama in November.
Thus pressure is being exerted on all the remaining candidates, i.e. Newt Gingrich
– and just-exiting candidates, i.e. Rick Santorum – to embrace Romney and get
everyone on the same page. So it was no coincidence that yesterday morning it was
announced that Santorum and Mitt would be meeting next Friday, May 4th, for their first
sit-down since Santorum suspended his campaign. And last night on Piers Morgan ON cnn, a
clearly still-reluctant Santorum, with his wife by his side, was almost bullied into
endorsing (sort of!) Mitt Romney.
Next comes the vexing case of Newt Gingrich who, it was leaked, would reconsider his
status if he lost Delaware yesterday. Indeed, he was soundly defeated by almost 30 points.
His money long ago dried up. His lone Super PAC supporter long ago signaled that he
would stop writing multi-million dollar checks. So, in effect, Newt has been reduced to a
candidate-in-name-only status. The spotlight he craves has dimmed and the media contingent
that follows legitimate candidates has disappeared. |
The GOP Establishment has begun to exert pressure on the former Speaker
to drop out and endorse Romney. Party unity is being pushed as a precursor to waging an
all-out, unified Republican and conservative assault on President Obama. But they
can’t do this if a candidate is still in the race carping at Romney and attracting
attention away from the main message.
Newt knows it is all over. But he has a hard time at the age of 68 giving up the
spotlight as a presidential candidate; it is virtually certain that he will never again be
a national political candidate. Plus he is angling for post-election speaking fees and
maybe a TV gig to replace the Fox News contributorship he lost last spring when he began
his campaign. Rumor has it he is talking to CNN.
On the other hand, inside-the-DC-Beltway think tanks and big GOP donors can dangle
attractive monetary inducements in front of Newt in order to get him out of the race and
singing a harmonious pro-Mitt song.
With the GOP on the verge of unity, the focus on how to amass 270 Electoral votes has
begun. It remains a daunting task. Contrary to close national polls, the actual race is
leaning heavily for Obama as of today. He is within striking distance of the 270 needed to
win and has many routes to that total.
Governor Romney has a more difficult path including Ohio, which he almost must win but
trails by 6 points. That is why Ohio Senator Rob Portman is the leading candidate to
become Romney’s running mate.
With six months to go, the GOP now believes Romney has a real chance to defeat Obama in
a race none of them thought winnable a year ago.
Now it is up to Team Romney to run a campaign against a powerful president - and his
allies in the so-called mainstream media - who will do anything to hold on to the Oval
Office.
"Published originally at EtherZone.com :
republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."
Former US Rep. John LeBoutillier is co-host of CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL, airing
live every Monday at 2 PM ET on Foxnews.com. He is a regular columnist for Ether
Zone.
John LeBoutillier can be reached at: johnlebout@johnlebout.com
He keeps an archive of his articles at: JohnLeBout.com
Published in
the April 30, 2012 issue of
Ether Zone.
Copyright © 1997 - 2012 Ether Zone.
We invite your
comments on this article in our forum!
|
