There are signs that we’re in for a long haul on the primary campaign trail. Mitt Romney expects to battle Newt Gingrich across the nation for months in the hunt for the nomination, forcing the nation to endure another long slog through caucuses and primaries like the one that occupied the Democrats for most of 2008.
A long fight would shorten the general election, and thus most likely put less of a focus on Obama for much of the year as Gingrich and Romney duke it out. Yet the Obama campaign says bring it on.
“The Republican primary have not benefitted the Republican candidates,” Obama 2012 communications director Ben LaBolt told reporters at a briefing in Washington Tuesday morning. LaBolt pointed to a chart by pollster PPP showing Romney’s favorables dropping the more people learn about him.
A long primary means more and more exposure for Romney across the country, the Obama theory goes, and that means great news for Democrats.
“[Voters] are responding to some of these iconic moments in the GOP primary,” LaBolt said. The primary has brought out some doozies for Romney, he added, suggesting the “10-1 moment” on the debate stage, the “corporations are people” line and the infamous $10,000 bet are contributing factors to Romney’s waning popularity.
“The $10,000 bet may end up being Mitt Romney’s grocery store scanner moment,” LaBolt said.
There are signs that LaBolt has the right read on the situation. The rise of Gingrich has forced Romney to take stands that Democrats are quite thrilled with, such as his new embrace of the Ryan Budget, which polled poorly back when the Republican House approved it. Months more of trying to win over conservative voters away from Gingrich could force Romney into more less-than-general-election-ideal stances.
That’s assuming Romney wins. If the long primary results in a Gingrich nomination, well, the Obama campaign thinks more exposure for Gingrich is a good thing for them, too.
Now, those with four year memories will recall that the epically long primary that resulted in Obama’s nomination was widely seen as strengthening Obama and turning him in to a general election force to be reckoned with. Obama strategist David Axelrod said there’s no danger of something similar happening to the GOP nominee that emerges from a long Gingrich-Romney slog.
“The difference here is that we weren’t being tugged to a pole in our party, we weren’t being tugged to the left,” Axelrod said. “They’re being tugged to the right everyday.”
And there’s no way it can be bad for Obama if that tilt right continues, Axelrod said.
“The agenda that the Republicans are embracing in order to win the nomination, I think they’re mortgaging themselves for the general by tacking as far as they are now,” he said. “I think the longer the race goes the more they’re going to do that and the harder it is to scramble back.”
