The most important result of the night from the Democratic perspective -- a real game-changer -- is tucked into two updates from Jed Lewison in Liveblog Thread 9:
8:22 PM PT (Jed Lewison): Newt Gingrich salutes Rick Santorum, says he "an a great positive campaign." Then he says "I wish I could say that for all the candidates." He then says Ron Paul is "stunningly dangerous" for his foreign policy views.
8:28 PM PT (Jed Lewison): Gingrich's "survival" speech boiled down to: "I'm going to tear down Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, but Rick Santorum is a pretty good guy." Has to be music to Santorum's ears.
A Newt Gingrich betrayed makes Glenn Close from Fatal Attraction look like Forrest Gump. Romney and Paul blew Gingrick out of the water? Fine -- it could not have been a surprise to him. But now he gets to return the favor.
Is this leading to a (if Santorum wins) Santorum-Gingrich ticket? Newt would be as good a partner as Santorum could get: he needs the gravitas and casual viciousness Newt could offer him. A double-Catholic ticket? Why not; "Double-Bubba" worked for Clinton. Santorum by himself would be toast; Santorum with a huge assist from Gingrich could win the nomination.
And, even as nasty as campaigner as Gingrich can be, that's good news for Democrats.
Could it happen? Well, we'll see how ambitious Newt is. I've long thought that if he was ever aiming to be anything more than a better recompensed speaker -- and with his disqualifying spoor of scandal, he probably realized that winning was unlikely -- it was to be a Cheneyesque Vice-President. If he can't run with a true chowderhead like Rick Perry, or a poseur like Herman Cain (whom he was romancing just before his own rise), then an extreme right-wing boob like Santorum who is compatible with Newt (but not his peer) is the next best bet.
If Gingrich wants to be Santorum's VP pick, he now has his chance to audition -- and to make sure that Santorum owes him.
Isn't Newt still too scandal-ridden to be on the ticket at all? Not, perhaps, too much so to be on Santorum's ticket. Newt's story, after all, is one of sin, conversion, and redemption; a forgiving benediction from Senator Prissypants would be second only to one from Mother Teresa. Remember, as VP he's not there to be loved; he's there to step in if something horrible happens to the President. He's in the vein of the older Cheney and Biden, or the equally experienced Gore and Poppy Bush and Bentsen, rather than that of the callow Quayle or Palin. "A man to turn to in a crisis." He can sell himself that way -- a sinner, an imperfect tool, but one to be pulled out only in the event of emergency.
And he's a murderous campaigner. He would give Obama fits and would possibly outdebate Biden. So yes, he'd be a good pick for Santorum if he wants it. And if he wants it, he can show it by stripping the flesh, muscles, and innards out of Mitt Romney and (to a lesser extent, given the lesser threat) Ron Paul.
Does Gingrich seem like the kind of guy who could get into that? Yeah, I thought so.
Gingrich really is smart -- although it is not possible for anyone to be as smart as he thinks he is -- and he figured this out before this morning. That was when he threw his own feces monkeylike at Mitt Romney by calling him a liar, flat-out, on CBS News. If he was running for President, that was a bad move. It he is running for Vice-President, to be chosen by a man running neck-and-neck with Romney, it is a great move!
So I think that we're going to see beautiful fireworks from Gingrich between now and Florida, when (after being beaten up in the polls, if his plan works and Santorum rises) he drops out by Groundhog Day and endorses Santorum, becoming one of his prime surrogates.
Meanwhile, I'm now inclined to take the "under" bet on Romney in New Hampshire. Romney will already have Huntsman gunning for him (for having failed to break through his 25% ceiling) and Paul gunning for him. He could handle that. And he could handle Santorum gunning for him as well, because Santorum couldn't karate chop a loaf of Wonderbread in half. Romney is probably very relieved that Gingrich is gone ... except: ... Gingrich ... isn't ... GONE!
A Gingrich who doesn't really care whether he boosts himself or not has to be Romney's greatest fear. Romney didn't play nice and fair in Iowa while Gingrich, as his story will go, did. So now Gingrich is going to hand him a dose of his own medicine and break every bone in Romney's political body except those in the inner ear, so that Romney will be able to hear Gingrich crapping on his head. Gingrich unleashed -- hell, this is going to be great.
And here's the beautiful part of it from Gingrich's perspective: the Republicans will need him once Romney is destroyed. Paul CANNOT be allowed to get the nomination; everyone knows that. A Huntsman win over Santorum would be a disaster for the party. So if it turns out to be Santorum heading towards the nomination, who are they going to turn to? Who understands economics -- or the form of economics that Republicans consider to be economics -- and has the national profile after this election? They don't need Huckabee, whom I've expected to be Romney's choice. They need someone to make up Santorum's deficits, and that's not Romney. It's Gingrich, the knife-fighter, making up for Santorum the scold. They will need him! And, therefore, they will forgive him.
Like Romney, a few days ago I didn't see any real way that he was going to be denied the nomination. Now, if I'm right about Gingrich and Santorum, I do: he can be beaten if he is double-teamed. (And, in New Hampshire, quadruple-teamed.) Romney is really not adept enough to handle the Clintonian-level smackdown coming at him first thing tomorrow morning. I'm telling you, this will be great fun.
The Santorum-Gingrich ticket! I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but once it became clear that Santorum could really win the evangelical primary, I'm pretty sure that Gingrich did. Review everything he said today and I think you'll agree. And, for Pete's sake, it just might work!