The Hill is reporting that Newt Gingrich will host “public policy workshops” for delegates at the GOP convention.
That solution for Mr. “American Solutions” seems to keep him happy while keeping him off the stage. You know, where the TV cameras are showing stuff.
Ron Paul failed today to get the Nebraska delegates he needed to win five states and have his name placed in nomination at the GOP convention in Tampa next month.
Some good news for the Romney campaign, a group desperately in need of good news.
From Politico‘s Maggie Haberman this morning, “How Mitt can make over his campaign,” some free advice for Mitt to “try better,” as Alex the Parrot would say:
“Despite calls from pundits and supporters alike to ‘let Mitt be Mitt,’ it’s become clear that…Mitt already is being Mitt. And that’s part of the problem.”
Haberman offers five fixes:
1. ” Stop talking delegate math. ‘Rather than talk about math, [Mitt] should talk about earning the nomination,’ said one Romney backer….”
2. “Stop campaigning without a message. It also means having a vision, and a positive one. It means giving some big speeches, and looking presidential. It means not flinging mud at Newt Gingrich or talking about Rick Santorum’s ‘desperate end’….”
3. “Stop predicting he’ll win states.
4. “Stop acting like he’s not a rich guy. Where the former head of Bain Capital gets into trouble is when he tries too hard to relate to average folks. … He has to recognize that, while people appreciate success, they don’t necessarily want to hear the details of how much better his life is….”
5. “Stop making the campaign about himself. He is making the race about him, instead of about the voters. When Romney tried to be funny about being a stranger in a strange land in the Deep South…it was at the expense of the voters he was courting. … Romney could return to telling stories he heard from voters about their own lives. … Most important for Romney is to convey that he realizes the campaign is about a bigger purpose — the voters– than his own electoral fate.”
All good ideas, and the full article is worth a read, but I really doubt anyone can tell Mitt anything, which is one of the reasons I don’t think he should be president. We think of Newt as the big ego in this race, but in some ways the truly arrogant, know-it-all one is Mitt.
“Like sterile accountants counting pennies, the Romney camp keeps counting delegates. That can get them to a win, but it will be an uninspiring win. There is little enthusiasm for Romney with the base.”
Erick Erickson, “Not Closing the Deal,” Red State
Thirty delegates were at stake in the Michigan Republican primary. Twenty-eight were decided based on congressional districts. Since Mitt and Rick split the districts, they split those delegates and won fourteen each.
Before the primary, Michigan said the remaining two “at large” delegates would be divided proportionately, so the actual results would give Mitt and Rick one each.
Rick has been running around calling Michigan a tie, because he believed he and Mitt each got fifteen delegates.
Not so fast. Now the Michigan GOP is awarding the two “at large” delegates to Mitt, an ex post facto change in the rules. Rick is accusing them of “political thuggery.”
They are depriving Rick of using the “tie” argument to bolster support heading into Super Tuesday.
Did the state party do this to punish Rick for his encouraging Democrats to turn out and vote in the primary? If they did, it’s absurd, since they’re the ones who established an open primary.
Did the state party do this because of Mitt’s muscle?
Whatever the reason, changing the rules after the fact is a tacky thing to do. Shame on the Michigan GOP.
Embattled Farmers 