And you have not heard of POLITICO Playbook, here is their daily news summary, published this morning, the morning after Newt’s spectacular win in South Carolina. What we are watching is the World Series of Republican politics, such as it exists in its current fully deconstructed, postmodern, self-parodying form. This is a first rate news roundup by editors who know what they’re doing. Note that some material is sourced as comments directly to POLITICO editors, such as the first one. -ef
TOP ROMNEY SOURCE: “We are moving to insider vs. outsider. To pol/lobbyist vs. businessman. And character is going to be an issue, not a subtext.”
TOP NEWT OFFICIALS tell Playbook they see a long “race of attrition … THIS IS ABOUT DELEGATES, NOW.”
–Gingrich’s message going into Fla., per a top official: “BOLD REAGAN CONSERVATIVE, versusTIMID MASSACHUSETTS MODERATE. We think it has resonance. Every time we use ‘bold Reagan conservative’ on Facebook, we get enormous feedback.”
–Gingrich is up with a “money bomb” Google search ad in Fla.: “Join The Money Bomb. Help Win Florida. Donate Here.” Also up with a ‘Newt The Fighter’ web ad, which says it all about his S.C. upset.
S.C. PRIMARY, 100% of precincts reporting: Newt Gingrich, 243,153 – 40 percent … Mitt Romney, 167,279 – 28 percent … Rick Santorum, 102,055 – 17 percent … Ron Paul, 77,993 – 13 percent … Herman Cain, 6,324 – 1 percent … Rick Perry, 2,494 – 0 percent … Jon Huntsman, 1,161 – 0 percent … Michele Bachmann, 494 – 0 percent.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT – Charles Krauthammer, on Fox News: “If Newt Gingrich wins the presidency, John King is going to have a gilded seat in the White House briefing room. It’s going to be an endowed chair.”
IF YOU READ ONLY ONE THING – Jonathan Martin, in Columbia : “Less than two weeks ago, Mitt Romney seemed all but certain to become the Republican presidential nominee. But after being thoroughly routed Saturday by Newt Gingrich in a primary Romney seemed likely to win just days earlier, the GOP frontrunner appears weaker than ever and the race seems likely to last at least until the spring. South Carolina historically brings clarity to Republican primary campaigns. This year, the Palmetto State has delivered drama, confusion and sparked a sense of growing concern for party elders. With three separate candidates taking the first three states, none of the contenders has a convincing hold on the campaign. …
“Newt Gingrich heads into Florida emboldened by two assets that will test Romney’s organization and money there: the momentum from a double-digit victory and a conservative base that appears to be coalescing. … The establishment favorite didn’t just lose South Carolina – he got thrashed. Less than a week after he was leading in the polls here, Romney found himself taking a twelve-point beating and dropping all but three counties of the state’s 46 counties. Romney’s thumping defeat – and his verbal miscues in the days before the election – has many Republicans worried that he’s a more brittle candidate than they thought.”
HOW IT HAPPENED – Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), on last night’s simulcast coverage by POLITICO and NewsChannel 8, anchored by Jim VandeHei and ABC7’s Scott Thuman: “Folks saw some fight from Newt Gingrich — really going on offense. … [O]ur nominee needs to understand that America is really concerned about the direction of our country. They know there are powerful forces in Washington and the media pushing us in the wrong direction. They want to make sure that the Republican nominee has got the courage and … fire in his gut to go after that. And I think they saw a little bit of that in Newt.” http://politi.co/z0GJUn
FIRST LOOK VIDEO: American Bridge, “Mitt Romney: Inevitable No More.” http://bit.ly/zd7XfV
TO RUB IN HIS DISPLEASURE WITH ABC NEWS for the “open marriage” story, Gingrich is doing every other Sunday show this morning – plus C-SPAN at 9:45! – and skipping “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” where the former Speaker had planned to appear before the Marianne Gingrich story ran.
ROMNEY does “Fox News Sunday” from Columbia, then flies to Florida. GINGRICH returned to D.C. late last night for the Archdiocese of Washington’s Mass for Life. He does Sunday shows from D.C., and is scheduled to fly to Florida tomorrow.
MATT and MERCY SCHLAPP have a fifth girl: “Our little girl was born at 4:20 a.m. [today] and weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs., and is 21 inches long. Mercy and Lucia are doing great. Thanks for all your prayers! Please pass this on to friends as we are a little groggy! 5 girls…wow. Matt.” Bush alumni equilibrium: Five Schlapp girls and four Bartlett boys!
ROMNEY COMMITS to two debates in Florida this week. Debates are Newt’s wheelhouse, but the former governor couldn’t appear to be hiding. Pop some popcorn: 1) Tomorrow at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, at 9 p.m., moderated by Brian Williams and carried on NBC — the first weekday primetime airing of a primary debate on a broadcast network in this election cycle. 2) “CNN, with the Republican Party of Florida and the Hispanic Leadership Network, will host a Republican presidential debate in Jacksonville, … at the University of North Florida on Thursday … from 8 to 10 p.m. … Wolf Blitzer will moderate
MITT’S PLAYBOOK: As part of a more aggressive campaign reset, Mitt Romney is talking to Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday” this a.m., bumping his chief strategist, Stuart Stevens, who had been booked. In Tampa on Tuesday, Romney will do a “pre-buttal” speech emphasizing the economy, ahead of President Obama’s State of the Union address that night.
–A Romney aide, in South Carolina: “Governor Romney finished fourth here with 15% of the vote last time — we’ve always maintained it’d be an uphill battle here. But we’re in it for the long haul: We have the organization built to compete and do well in every state. We have been able to get on every ballot and have a 50-state organization. Newt, for instance, couldn’t even get on the ballot in his home state of Virginia. We are today, and have always been, focused on the getting the delegates to win the nomination. We have a strong organization in Florida.”
–A Romney adviser says the campaign was “always built with the understanding that the process would be competitive and that Florida would loom large. The race is crystallizing as a contest between a candidate who’s a career politician who lives off of Washington, and a former governor and businessman from outside of Washington with a record of turning things around.”
NEWT’S PLAYBOOK – A Gingrich adviser: “Florida is so expensive, and it’s winner take all. So spending $2 million on ads and losing by three points. We’re going to be pretty strategic in the way that we allocate resources. … We won’t know for a couple days [whether to go full-on in Fla.]. It will depend on what our internal tracking says, and maybe a couple other polls. Newt will be in Florida because that’s where the national media is. But we won’t know until early [this] week whether we’re going to throw money at it.”
–The adviser, on Romney’s plan to make character a central issue: Gingrich has “been pretty upfront about mistakes he’s made in his past. He’s been upfront from the fact that he’s had to actually go to God for forgiveness. He’s talked about his family today. You know, his daughters are campaigning for him. He’s got a great relationship with his grandchildren, with Callista. They have a strong partnership.”
WHAT FLORIDIANS ARE READING: Tampa Bay Times (nee, St. Pete Times) banner, “Gingrich takes win into Fla.: The feisty debater who captivated voters scores an upset.” See Page 1A. http://bit.ly/y8mq6r
–Miami Herald banner, “Newt’s win sets stage for Fla. battle,” by Marc Caputo: “Romney has already been waging a low-key battle in Florida, spending about $2.5 million on TV ads and roughly $1 million on mail to target the early and absentee Republican voters who have already cast almost 200,000 ballots in Florida – about 10 percent of the expected vote Jan. 31. Early-voting precincts opened statewide in Florida on Saturday as South Carolina voters went to the polls. …
“Romney and his campaign started tearing into Gingrich for his ethics problems when he was House Speaker and for his role in advising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The attack on Gingrich’s consulting for the lenders could be particularly potent in Florida, ground-zero of the mortgage and housing meltdown. … Florida’s primary is closed, meaning that only Republicans can cast ballots. … Florida is a winner-take-all state with 50 delegates. Third-place South Carolina finisher Rick Santorum said he’ll campaign in Florida. Fourth-place Ron Paul won’t, but he’ll focus in other states.” http://bit.ly/Al0XpZ See the front page. http://bit.ly/xaKtJ9
Can’t think of anybody who would buy those self-serving SOB’s, Brendan — besides, just about every country has enough lizard-brains of their own. I’d guess that throughout time, the 99% have dreamed of the Karma Faerie zapping them and giving a moments satisfaction, but we rarely get to see them get their comeuppance. Their money pretty much insulates them, but times are changin’!
Matt Schlapp is a former Bush administration official, Koch Industries VP and on the board of directors of Liberty Central, the organization Clarence Thomas’ wife, Ginni, promoted. I dunno about the Bartlett reference. All of it is Righty insider stuff.
Did anyone mention Politico leans pretty consistently to the right?
Amanda – I’m with you, that was confusing, and no, I have no idea. An ongoing joke within Politico?
Tell ya what, Jude, how we sell our plutocrats? After all, they have lots of cash, and have a huge economic impact all on their own. What country wouldn’t want them? Of course, it should be a one way trip, with no return ticket, but hey, why wouldn’t the Koch bros want their own country? Belarus might be open to them, what’s-his-name there would love the cash flow and they would have a country more than willing to do whatever they want it to do.
Plutocrats and dictators: the right combination for 2012! Romney & Lukashenko 2012!!
can anyone explain the one about schlapp girls and bartlett boys? clueless here. *definitely* not a political junkie. mostly it all annoys me — but this seemed random enough to ask about.
Hardcore political junkie? Right here, boss!
Ya know, if these guys could step out of their own ideology a moment and accept the fact that their “exceptional” America is close to breaking up on the rocks, they could all get behind Mitt as THE perfect guy to declare us bankrupt, dissolve all previous promises and policies and sell off everything to the highest bidder, putting some insider money aside for themselves. Win-Win for the plutocrats!