Today's primary could be fateful....
The State. Typically the New Hampshire GOP primary is comprised of 60 percent declared GOP, 20 percent undeclared GOP, 10 percent true independents & 10 percent Democrats. Large numbers delay their decision to election day--some think as many as half may do so.
Field. Mitt Romney is the divider in the GOP field, writes Dan Henninger. He may yet sink the GOP, in favor of the President, who is, DH says, the true cynical divider in the field. In contrast, Wes Pruden sees Mitt as the "castor oil candidate" who is better situated than his "dork" opponents to take on Obama (who WP calls the biggest dork of them all).
BUT ROMNEY MAY HAVE COMMITTED POLITICAL SUICIDE MONDAY MORNING, WHEN HE SAID THIS AT A BREAKFAST:
"I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."
Mitt went on to say that he wanted to be able to fire people for bad service, so he could hire people to give him good service, in remarks directed against ObamaCare. Watch the full video clip (1:45) embedded in the link above. Romney is innocent, but do not look for opponents to put his ill-expressed remark in true context.
Like his dad George Romney's suicidal "I just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get" in a 1967 interview (2:05), referring to having been deceived by Lyndon Johnson, Mitt chose the wrong phrasing. In this economy you do NOT use "like" & "fire people" in the same sentence. Mitt's intended context will, of course, be lost in translation. Just as in 1967 his dad's remark would have worked had he said that LBJ, the generals & diplomats had all lied to him--LBJ had, in fact, lied to the entire country. Instead of using the word "brainwashed" his dad would have been fine, so had Mitt been more careful he need not have worried.
Rivals have jumped on Romney's mega-gaffe: the Democratic National Committee already has an ad (0:41) that, predictably, takes Mitt's single cringe sentence--think chalk screeching across the blackboard--out of its broader context. But GOP rivals were little better. Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry & Newt Gingrich have chimed in. (Newt said this AM on "Fox & Friends" that the clip was of course taken out of context, but that nonetheless this is an edge Newt--not known for tact himself--says he has over Mitt, i.e., speaking & debating ability.}
The Wall Street Journal examined Romney's record as Bain Capital CEO. The article goes into detail, but parsing it for definitive conclusions about Bain is hard, if not impossible. Bain was a rescue operation targeting firms in trouble. Such efforts anticipate many failures, aiming for huge profits with successful rescues to more than pay for multiple failures in which skillful venture capitalists cut losses. It is an old Wall Street adage: "Cut your losses, and let your profits run."
But Newt has one point, which he made on F&F: The late Ted Forstmann's leveraged buyout firm, Forstmann Little, rescued firms by saving jobs. The role of firms that extract huge profits from closing companies is open to attack, at a time when the economy is in terrible shape. The huge financial excess of Wall Street hedge fund traders & bankers is an awful backdrop to this narrative. The NRO editors defend Romney, and note that Newt was on Forstmann Little's board of directors.
Rick Santorum followed Newt on F&F, and said that Romney had made a legitimate point "inarticulately" and that he, RS, would not play "gotcha" politics at Mitt's expense. Would that his fellow GOPers had observed Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment, and left caricature to the Democrats.
Michael Barone examines the weaknesses of Mitt's challengers, perhaps Romney's best asset.
Charles Krauthammer sees Rick Santorum as the perfect conservative challenger to face Mitt, if he can survive January & then build a national campaign during the February hiatus before primaries resume. Bill Kristol argues that even if Mitt wins NH he is hardly inevitable, noting that establishment candidates have lost several times in the past generation, and that Iowa & NH together have all of 11 electoral votes.
Bottom Line. Lots can happen in the rest of this month, let alone after. Few thought John Kerry would be the 2004 Democratic nominee; few thought Barack Obama had a real shot at defeating Hillary in 2008. Huntsman, if he finishes ahead of Santorum in NH, may surprise in later primaries. So stay tuned.
Letter from the Capitol, LFTC< Conservative Politics
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