Gail Collins: The End of Newt

The End of Newt
By GAIL COLLINS

Well, the results of the latest wave of primaries are in. The people
have spoken, decisively. All 10 of them.


Earl Wilson/The New York Times
Gail Collins

Go to Columnist Page »The Conversation
David Brooks and Gail Collins talk between columns.

I am exaggerating. In Rhode Island, well over 3 percent of the
eligible voters flocked to the polls on Tuesday, as the overwhelming
majority declared their enthusiasm for Mitt Romney as the Republican
presidential nominee. We are totally talking mandate.

And I cannot tell you how much excitement there was in New York. Six
percent turnout! In my neighborhood, the atmosphere was electric.
Voters had not been so politically exercised since that year we had a
primary pitting a recently deceased congressman and a member of a
cultlike group led by a Marxist psychotherapist.

And, wow, no more Newt Gingrich.

Newt is reportedly planning to drop out of the presidential race on
Tuesday. The crushing blow was the Delaware primary, where the
Gingrich campaign had hoped to win a dramatic come-from-behind victory
under the theory that only a couple of Republicans would actually vote
and that they would be the same people who once nominated Christine
O'Donnell for the Senate.

Unfortunately, a whopping 16 percent of the eligible electorate showed
up, way too big a crowd for the fragile Gingrich candidacy to
withstand. This has been a terrible month for Newt. His campaign is
millions in debt. His pet billionaire, Sheldon Adelson, seems to have
deserted him. He was bitten by a penguin at the St. Louis Zoo. And now
this.

Did you ever notice how many of the Republican candidates seemed to
have animal issues? Rick Perry shot that coyote, and Jon Huntsman got
bitten by a goat — really, that was the high point of the Huntsman
campaign. Also, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the veep front-runner,
recently imitated a chicken on television. You will be hearing more
about this incident because I think I speak for the entire national
media when I say that we are planning to discuss possible Republican
vice presidential candidates nonstop through the spring and summer.

And the winner is the guy who drove to Canada with the family dog
strapped to the roof of the car!

"My guess is you'll see a dramatic difference in the youth vote this
time — part of it is you have a younger, more dynamic Republican
candidate," said a Romney surrogate, former Senator Hank Brown.

Take that, young Americans. You can't find jobs because the baby
boomers are never going to retire. The Republicans in Congress want to
raise the price of student loans. And, in politics, 65-year-olds get
to be the youth candidate.

We are now in for six months of Mitt Romney versus Barack Obama, and
with the polls showing the race to be very close, you could argue that
it is going to be really exciting. Except for the fact that it's Mitt
Romney versus Barack Obama.

Ignore the polls, I beg you. It will just make you nervous and crazy
for no good reason. When it comes to their political preferences, the
American people are like a bunch of middle school students picking
their best friend on Facebook. Do you know who one of the most popular
political figures in the United States is right now? Hillary Clinton!
Nearly two-thirds of Americans are crazy about Hillary Clinton, and
only 27 percent view her unfavorably. Do you remember when she was the
most polarizing name in politics? Do you remember when she lost to
Barack Obama and we all said it was like the cool popular guy versus
the hard-working student council treasurer? Barack Obama would kill
for Hillary Clinton's favorability ratings now.

Romney is now busy with a passel of closed-door fund-raisers in states
like New Jersey and New York, which he will never, ever, visit for any
other reason than closed-door fund-raisers. Newt's future plans are
unknown. Perhaps he will go back to that great job he had before,
getting $300,000 fees for his advice as a historian to corporations
with big financial interests pending in Congress. And what about Rick
Santorum? You can't spend the rest of your life not endorsing Mitt
Romney. The only guy who seems to have his future plotted out is Ron
Paul, who is apparently planning to continue running for president
while we all ignore him.

So many surprises to look forward to. What humanizing interchange will
Mitt have with the public next? Will it be as good as the last one,
when he insulted the cookies at a Pittsburgh community center? Will he
win over the loser Republicans' billionaires? Their celebrity
supporters? Rich guys are one thing, but Gary Busey will take some
wooing.

Will he ever release all his tax returns? Will he keep the Kid Rock
theme song for his campaign? Have we ever had a presidential nominee
who walks on stage to a song that seems to suggest he is "wild, like
an untamed stallion?" When we did, would you have imagined it would be
Mitt Romney?

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/26/opinion/collins-the-end-of-newt.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy



--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
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