Newt Gingrich recently compared himself to the signers of the Declaration of Independence ? willing to sacrifice everything for a cause, in this case conservatism. Observers both left and right immediately mocked this statement as yet another example of Newtonian grandiosity.
We prefer to take the former speaker at his word. So here?s a question for him:
Continue ReadingFor the good of the cause, are you willing to join with Rick Santorum as the vice-presidential candidate on a unified conservative ticket to defeat former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination?
Caucus results, this time from Nevada, can be easily dismissed. But there is a political primary truth that Gingrich needs to accept. . His huge victory in South Carolina caused everyone to overlook the exit poll data ? which confirmed a truism from New Hampshire, and predicted the same in Florida. About one-fifth of the GOP electorate doesn?t believe Gingrich has the moral character to be president.
Yet these same polls show that these voters like Santorum. Indeed, while the former Pennsylvania senator finished a distant third in Florida, he actually defeated the better-funded Gingrich among the one-third of the electorate who made either moral character or conservative beliefs the lynchpin of their vote.
Anti-Gingrich/pro-Santorum ?faith and family? voters are unlikely to support the former speaker over Romney in a two-way race. But pro-Gingrich/anti-Romney ?very conservative? voters, the GOP?s biggest ideological block, can be persuaded to back the Pennsylvanian in a two-way contest against the candidate Gingrich calls the ?Massachusetts moderate.?
The exit polls reveal that Gingrich?s advantages over Santorum are based on experience and his perceived ability to beat Obama. This image of Santorum can possibly change as the former speaker and other leaders rally behind him. But the perception of Gingrich among those who find him unfit for the Presidency is not fixable and it is only likely to grow.
We concede that Gingrich may well regard playing second fiddle as a fate worse than death. In the history of U.S. politics, two candidates still actively running for the presidential nomination have never combined for a unity ticket, much less the top vote getter agreeing to ride shot gun.
Santorum is under no pressure to drop out since he believes Gingrich will soon be viewed as a loser. Yet the former speaker is right on this point: Romney has always been beatable for the GOP nomination.
But this misses the bigger picture: Among Gingrich. Romney and Santorum, the former Georgia congressman is the weakest candidate against President Barack Obama.
Since Gingrich left Congress under a cloud, he has mistaken celebrity for importance. The presidential debates gave him a chance to be reborn in the public mind as an impressive thinker and even a matured leader. It?s amazing that he continues his ?rage at the machine? politics at the moment Republicans began seeing him in the serious light he has hungered for since 1998.
Gingrich views his ability to rise repeatedly from the political ashes as proof of strength. But it also demonstrates how easy it is for Republicans to revert to seeing him as the ?Old Newt.?
So the last chance for Gingrich to use the gift given to him by the weak GOP 2012 field would mean putting aside personal ambition in favor of the conservative cause.
A Santorum-Gingrich unity ticket would energize the conservative movement, and counter the speaker?s growing image as an angry, self-absorbed, ?rule or ruin? politician.
In the annals of presidential politics, there would have been few if any more unselfish acts. Gingrich could stand like a giant astride the conservative legions. In private, Santorum might not embrace this move. But we doubt he could publicly reject it.
If Santorum went on to defeat Romney, then Gingrich gets the credit. If not, then Gingrich emerges as the undisputed leader of U.S. conservatism.
By running as vice president on a Santorum ticket, Gingrich essentially gives up nothing for a sure thing: achievement of revered iconic status. He would finally be the real heir of Sen. Barry M. Goldwater and President Ronald Reagan.
Or he could choose to go down, sooner or later, to inglorious defeat.
Paul Goldman is former chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia. Mark J. Rozell is professor of public policy at George Mason University.
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