And so, once again, we see a GOP frontrunner fall from polling grace without Mitt Romney getting anything out of it. The Michele Bachmann surge begat the Rick Perry surge begat the Herman Cain surge which has now prompted the Newt Gingrich surge.
What gives? Why can’t the man more and more Republicans believe will actually be the nominee get any love as these frontrunners flame out? In the case of his newest opponent, Gingrich, Romney’s problem comes down to two words: fire and brimstone.
As one person in South Carolina told me over the weekend, Gingrich “stirs the pot” better than anyone, and that’s bringing him some new fans.
The difference between Romney and Gingrich really couldn’t be anymore stark, rhetoric-wise. (The same can’t be said policy-wise or politically embarrassing lucrative former life-wise.)
Romney has already promised to stay away from the real talk radio-friendly stuff out on the stump, so maybe it’s no surprise that he fails to entrance primary voters the same way Gingrich can. But it’s still worth noting how clear the difference is.
Take two stops from the campaign trail in South Carolina this weekend. I attended a Romney rally on Veteran’s Day in Mauldin and a Gingrich rally a few miles away near Greenville. Here’s what the attacks on Obama’s handling of the economy sounded like at each.
First, Romney. I’ve highlighted the roughest stuff, in case you miss it:
It’s not good for America, it’s not good for veterans, if we don’t have an economy that’s cooking, that’s building enterprises and hiring people and creating jobs. We don’t have that right now and haven’t for the last three years…I believe that almost everything that’s been done over the last three years has made it harder for this economy to get going again. And I’m fearful that if you keep the same team in place you’ll see America headed on a track towards Italy or toward Greece with a national calamity and an employment crisis.
Contrast that with Gingrich, the man who’s now heading for the head of the field:
Now we have in the White House a legitimate, genuine Saul Alinsky-style radical who believes in class warfare and bureaucratic socialism. I think it’s wrong, but it is a legitimate belief system. He’s also a disaster in practical terms with 9% unemployment, $2 trillion in debt a decaying foreign policy.
Is it really any surprise one man leaves Republican voters more fired up than the other?
