Mitt Romney's message has come down to this: Stop Newt (Chris Keane/Reuters)
It's so much fun watching the GOP establishment freak out about Mitt Romney's inability to close the deal—and Newt Gingrich's stubborn refusal to go away. No matter what they say about Mitt, they can't figure out a way to sell him. So now, according to Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, they are
unleashing the mother of all assaults against Newt:
Newt Gingrich better hope voters who lapped up his delicious hits on the “elite media” and liberals don’t read the Drudge Report this morning.
Or the National Review. Or the American Spectator. Or Ann Coulter.
If they do, Gingrich comes off looking like a dangerous, anti-Reagan, Clintonian fraud.
It’s as if the conservative media over the past 24 hours decided Gingrich is for real, and they need to come clean about the man they really know before it’s too late.
As VandeHei and Allen point out, the top headline on Drudge links to a National Review story accusing Gingrich of having "repeatedly insulted" Reagan while another one accuses him of "girl hopping" and says more "tawdry" stories will come out. Meanwhile, Ann Coulter and even Tom DeLay are joining the fray, firing away with all cylinders to Stop Newt.
The GOP establishment's problem is obvious: nobody really likes Mitt Romney, not independents, not Democrats, and not Republicans. To win, they need to divide and conquer Mitt Romney's opposition, but they didn't expect things to coalesce this quickly around Newt Gingrich. The good news for them is that Newt Gingrich is probably the easiest target in the world, but their inability so far to take advantage of that fact speaks volumes about Romney's weakness.
Still, I wouldn't bet all that heavily against them. Unless Newt Gingrich turns in a stellar debate performance tonight, Mitt Romney has a very good shot at winning the Florida primary on Tuesday, and a Romney win would set him up to end things on Super Tuesday, if not sooner. But even if he does win, his win won't be an expression of enthusiasm for his candidacy: it will be because he was the only option Republicans had left.