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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Robert Schlesinger
Cain will falter, so maybe Newt will get the next 'not-Romney' audition
Poor Newt Gingrich must be wondering what he's got to do to get his moment in the spotlight as the not-Romney of the moment.
For months, the Republican rank and file has desperately scrambled for a plausible alternative to the Terminator-like (looks human, acts robotic, and will absolutely never stop, ever, until he's the nominee) Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. Consider the real and imagined candidates who have enjoyed boomlets of
What does this crowd have that old Newt lacks? If the
And that was before he doubled down on Sarah Palin's "death panels" and suggested that President Obama "wishes" America would "decay and fall apart." Cain and Bachmann have lost campaign staffers along the way, but they're pikers compared with Gingrich, whose senior staff quit en masse. They apparently didn't like Newt taking a trip to Greece in June shortly after announcing his candidacy, prompting some commentators to speculate that Gingrich was running to promote his books and other enterprises. So? Cain took weeks off for a recent book tour and has used campaign funds to buy copies of his own book.
This is not to say that Newt is without his positive qualities. Unlike Perry, he can speak not only in full sentences but often in full paragraphs. And unlike Romney, he does so without seeming programmed.
I list these Gingrich qualities because he almost certainly will get his audition as Romney's foil. After Cain stumbles, who else will there be? Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, late of the Obama administration, seems to spend most of the debates misdelivering prepared one-liners, like a weird Saturday Night Live refugee. And Rick Santorum's last act in elective life was losing his
And make no mistake, despite being in a virtual tie with Romney in the latest
[Read: Why the Republicans Want to Raise Your Taxes.]
The plan has the virtue of simplicity and catchiness. And he answers all criticism with motivational speaker-style certitude. "The problem with that analysis is that it is incorrect," he said at one point in last week's debate.
His plan will pass, he asserts. How does he know?
Cain insists that his plan is revenue-neutral, adding that a study conducted by an independent group backs up his assertion. But
No matter how self-assured he sounds when he declares his critics "incorrect," Cain will eventually have to bend to the laws of political gravity. He cannot go on forever declaring that less is more just because he said so. The more Cain is taken seriously, the more scrutiny he will get, hastening his induction into the ranks of the 2012 has-beens. Then maybe Newt will get his turn.
And what of Romney? He is clearly the class of the field, which along with his plodding serenity increasingly gives him an air of inevitability. But consider a recent report from Gallup which noted that with one exception -- John McCain four years ago -- every eventual
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When Cain's Not Able, Will Gingrich Be Next In Line? | Politics
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