Will Newt Romney Kill The GOP?

Indulge me a bit as we talk about some inside baseball related to the current GOP primary race.

Newt Gingrich ran a cash-poor political campaign until December of last year, when a big donor named Sheldon Adelson gave $11 million to Gingrich’s PAC. Adelson is one of the 10 wealthiest Americans, and owns a casino in Las Vegas. He has also been a GOP sugar daddy for years. Gingrich’s PAC blew through Adelson’s money buying television ads in South Carolina, Florida, and Nevada, with most of the funds beings spent in Florida as Gingrich and Romney carpet-bombed the state in negative advertising.

The reason why Adelson gave Gingrich money appears to have nothing to do with personal preference. Merely, Gingrich was the flavor of the week and Sheldon wanted to be on the winning side.

According to reports, just before the Nevada caucuses on February 4, Adelson met with Mitt Romney in Nevada. This was a fateful meeting, much more important than Donald Trump’s endorsement of Romney that same week, as after this meeting Adelson quietly put the word out that he was cutting Gingrich off. Thus, Gingrich’s campaign was effectively doomed. With no money, there can be no TV ads, and there is only one debate scheduled before Super Tuesday, so there is little Gingrich can do to make up lost ground. Further, Gingrich is terrible at the kind of retail politics that someone like Rick Santorum excels at–Newt needs to have soundbites to survive.

Everything looked bleak for Team Gingrich, and then Santorum crushed Romney in Minnesota, Missouri, and Colorado.

I have lost the link to the source, but it has been reported that Romney met Adelson again last week. The Wall Street Journal picks up the story from here:

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, by far the biggest financial backer of Newt Gingrich’s presidential bid, is preparing to open his wallet again. But this time, the casino magnate appears to have more than one agenda.
In a bit of political chess, Mr. Adelson is ready to not only directly support the former House speaker in the Republican primary, but to use his cash to push Rick Santorum from his position atop the latest national polls, according to people who have discussed the matter with Mr. Adelson.
If Mr. Gingrich could afford to continue campaigning, one of those people said, he might be able to draw off conservative and evangelical voters from Mr. Santorum, improving the chances of Mitt Romney, who Mr. Adelson believes has a better chance to win November’s general election.
“Sheldon says we all have to keep our eyes on the goal here—beating Obama,” said a person who talked with Mr. Adelson.
According to the people who have discussed the matter, Mr. Adelson could give an additional $10 million or more to an independent group supporting Mr. Gingrich before Super Tuesday, March 6, a likely pivotal day when 10 states go to the polls.

The reason why Adelson has taken this position appears to be purely on one issue: abortion. He disagrees with the pro-life cause and thinks it is a loser when it comes to national politics, so the current plan is to fund Gingrich to attack Santorum so that Gingrich and Santorum will both be destroyed, and Romney will get the nomination. Romney is happy to have Gingrich do his dirty work for him because, while his Mormon Mafia has been known to play quite rough, Mitt hates to get personally involved in mudslinging. At the same time, Gingrich is happy to do such dirty work, because it is the essence of Newtness.

In summary, Mitt Romney appears to have a much more Machiavellian personality than most people have given him credit for.

The main problem is that such a ploy may give Romney the nomination but–no matter who does his dirty work for him–it will only drive up his own negatives and hurt the GOP. Really, if the GOP goes through another two months of mudslinging, lies, and character assassination, can it survive the general election? Or, will the electorate be so turned off on politicians by election day that the winning margin will be determined by a handful of derelicts who have been paid to vote, along with the ballots of some dead people from the Cook County cemetery?

It is impossible to see exactly how this will play out. However, thus far, both Newt and Mitt have given us campaigns based purely on biography, tales of past exploits (both real and imagined), and slinging excrement. Seriously, if these men cannot give anyone a positive reason to vote for them, why are they running for president?

As for Sheldon Adelson, why doesn’t he find some other country to try to buy, or take up a hobby like stamp collecting or bikini waxing? Why wreck the GOP when there are so many other worthy things to destroy?

Sheldon Adelson, groping Lady Liberty?

Related articles

• Adelson’s New Goal: Take Down Santorum (commentarymagazine.com)
• Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Considering Another $10 Million Check To Pro-Gingrich Super PAC (thinkprogress.org)
• Gingrich’s Money Man Aims for Santorum Now (slog.thestranger.com)