It's getting pretty lonely at the bottom, huh? (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Conservative political analyst
Ken Appell:
Newt has given it a great run but Rick Santorum has earned a mano a mano shot at Mitt Romney. Santorum has demonstrated clear strength in the Midwest, West and South and he has earned the opportunity to take on Romney in a two-man race. It is also abundantly clear from South Carolina to Georgia to Tennessee to Alabama and Mississippi that southern conservatives are thoroughly rejecting Mitt Romney. In fact, it’s clear that conservatives across the country are sending a clear message to the Republican establishment: ‘nothing is over until we decide it is.
Matt Lewis in the conservative Daily Caller:
Newt Gingrich surprised us all by taking a shoestring campaign all the way into March of 2012. He won South Carolina, and his home state of Georgia. He should be proud of the campaign he has run. But if he wants to remain proud of his efforts, it’s important to go out in a classy manner.
Politico's Morning Score email digest:
Gingrich and his aides continue to insist they're not going anywhere, but how much long can their adventure realistically go on? The media is now in a place where even semi-obscure conservatives will get attention for saying Gingrich should drop out.
Weekly Standard's
William Kristol:
Their campaigns certainly won't end anytime soon. But Newt Gingrich's might. He's won only twice so far—and Santorum, his rival for conservative standard-bearer, has beaten him in twenty of the twenty-four states where they've both been on the ballot.
Washington Examiner:
But the Washington establishment, or more accurately the East Coast establishment, is about to declare Gingrich dead. After Tuesday's primary, reporters from the Washington Post and New York Times were leaving the Gingrich campaign; it's not clear how regularly the papers will cover Gingrich from now on. That's a sign of establishment rejection that Gingrich would relish -- he's scored a lot of political points attacking the media -- but the real worry is that the Gingrich campaign might slowly fade from press coverage.
Santorum Super PAC:
"A week ago we called on Newt Gingrich to exit the race," said RWB Fund strategist Nick Ryan. "Tonight, voters in Alabama and Mississippi said the same thing."
Washington Post's
Chris Cillizza:
Santorum’s wins in the deep South badly complicate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s logic for continuing on in the contest. Gingrich, never one to bow to electoral reality, seems to be committed to staying in the race for now — proclaiming in a speech Tuesday night that “the elite media’s effort to convince the nation that Mitt Romney is inevitable just collapsed.” Um, ok.
When every question directed at your campaign is "when are you going to drop out?", perhaps it's time to move on to greener pastures.
