Romney? The Republican establishment? His new girlfriend?
He is really screwing Rick Santorum, and I imagine that Romney is praying to his sacred underwear every night for Newt to stay in.
What is Newt thinking? IS Newt thinking?
I don’t think he’s trying to screw anyone. He’s just thinking about himself, and he still thinks he has a chance of winning.
I don’t think he’s fooling anybody, least of all himself. I suspect that the goal now is to take enough delegates from both front runners so he can be the kingmaker come convention time. If Romney doesn’t get over the top on his own he can seriously influence Romney’s direction, or he can cut him out completely and swing it for Santorum.
He’s definitely in it for himself and his vision of the future (and what part he will play in an assumed Republican administration), but the truth is that it doesn’t matter because Obama is still a lead-pipe lock to get a second term. Romney will lose because, frankly, he’s a Mormon, and Santorum will lose because other than the base he appeals to nobody.
He doesn’t think he has a chance if winning. Newt is all about promoting Newt. He had a decent surge and still does well enough in some places so that in two years, after Romney wins the nom like he was always going too, he can say “Romney won the nod and the election cause I stayed in and siphoned votes from Santorum.” or “I only lost the nod because Santorum wouldn’t quit, and if I won the nod republicans would have taken back the white house.” He’s banking on number two. Much better for business.
ETA: appologies for the typos. Still only have my IPod.
Why would he change at this time of life?!
No, no – what you see as Newt trying to screw other people is really just Newt putting himself first. The effects on others are just collateral damage 
I wrote in a different thread that Romney should pick Ricky-poo as his running mate just to nab the trailer park votes from the deep south. Now I’m not so sure. Maybe he’ll get the VP pick with Romney.
Rand Paul is the best answer that I can think of right now.
You know, if a super PAC wanted to, it could just give its money to Newt. Its not against the super Pac rules, there aren’t any to speak of. They can’t “communicate”, whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean.
Newt’s waiting for an offer, but not a place on the ticket. An offer he can take to Tiffany’s. Cash. Romney Pubbies want him in the race? Big fat donation to the PAC, keep him in until Romney nails it down, then he can bail with whatever cash is left over.
The Trog Right principles he alleges to hold are for shit, he’ll dump those in a heartbeat. He already has, he has to know he’s killing Santorum, but can’t win himself.
Santorum doesn’t have enough money to buy Newt, but Romney does. And he never even has to admit it, he can pretend to righteous political fervor even after he takes the money and runs. Stops running. Whatever.
Take a keen analytic mind to figure this shit out. Got about half of one, but its keen!
Both Santorum and Gingrich have potentially lucrative post-election careers. Tim Palentey and Rick Perry? Not so much. During old nomination battles there would be a career cost if you stayed in longer than your past-sale date. Not any more. Candidates would even spend years paying off their debts after unsuccessful runs. If my hypothesis holds, both Rick and Newt will not only be in the black, they will be millionaires in Dec 2013. Ka-ching!
He’s fantasizing about playing the role of king-maker at a brokered convention.
Newt’s got enough money, he wants power. I’m sure he still misses being Speaker and he’s loving all the press, even negative press. And he’s not even paying for it out his own pocket. If Newt drops out now, he’d become as irrelevant as Cain or Perry - and he’s too much of an egomaniac to want to do that.
It’s not who Newt is trying to screw, it’s who Sheldon Adelson is trying to screw and that’s Santorum. Newt will stay in the race as long as Sheldon Adelson pumps money into his campaign and Adelson will continue pumping money in as long as it’s reducing Santorum’s chances of becoming president.
I don’t know who Newt wants to screw, who he is screwing is anyone who doesn’t like Romney. If he had bowed out before Michigan, it could have made a real difference. If his supporters flock to Santorum, whether it’s because he drops out or becomes unviable, it doesn’t make much difference. Barring scandal, Romney has already got a death grip on the nomination.
Probably his wife’s assistant, if history tells us anything.
I have to admit, that’s about the worthiest cause for someone’s money I could think of.
I actually think that Newt staying in the best chance for a brokered convention. If he gets out, Romney will certainly get 50% of the delegates. Granted, that will probably happen regardless. But Santorum has almost no chance of getting 50% whether Newt’s in or not.
That’s the title of a current National Journal article:
The person he is taking delegates from in states like Alabama is Santorum. The analysis in this article shows that without Gingrich in the race, Santorum would have probably won all 26 delegates, instead of the 10/8/8 Santorum/Gingrich/Romney split that actually happened. There are other states where the same calculations show that Newt is hurting Romney. He is essentially robbing the other two of a majority, which is a huge deal in states like Alabama that have a winner-take-all/proportional rule depending on whether anyone gets a majority.
Romney keeps saying that the math to winning the nomination is getting worse and worse for the other candidates. What he fails to disclose is taht the math is getting worse for him too. He needs the majority of all remaining delegates to win the nomination outright.
It is probably unreasonable to have expected Gingrich to have bowed out of the race before Florida. Frankly, it wasn’t unreasonable of him to stick it out through super tuesday. So if he is being obstinate, then his obstinacy has only cost Santorum 20 or 30 delegates because so many of the primaries are proportional. If this looks like its going to a brokered convention then Gingrich is probably not wasting his time.
Where he hurts Santorum is on optics. Santorum would have picked up the win in several states like Ohio and Michigan without Gingrich. These states are proportional (or winner take all by congressional district) anyway so there probably isn’t a lot of shift in delegate count so far due to Gingrich’s continued presence in teh race and if he can bash Romney, then he will.
Presidential campaigns do not end, they run out of money. The sort of egos that run for president don’t concede defeat unless it is clear they have already lost and even then, its not a sure thing especially if it looks like there may be a brokered convention. Frankly, I think if Gingrich loses Adelson, he will start bashing Romney.