Romney's Weak Week Becomes Time Of Gingrich's Surge (VIDEO)

How sudden was the turnaround that took former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney from being a step away from clinching the GOP nomination to the candidate who's putting on a brave face and pretending to look forward to a long, drawn-out primary slog?

All you have to do is go back and follow the media narrative of the past seven days. After the New Hampshire contest, Romney was considered such a shoo-in to win in the Palmetto State that most thought that all he'd have to do to win the primary was not "fall down or throw up."

But as it happened, that "something crazy" turned out to be Romney's not anticipating that anyone would hold him responsible for releasing his income taxes. Now, because of Romney's lack of transparency and a few well-delivered anti-media rants by Newt Gingrich, it's the former House speaker who's being credited for a "historical political achievement."

And so Romney looks to Florida not as the site of a GOP coronation but as the state where he'll have to begin his comeback. HuffPost's Sam Wilkes takes us through Mitt Romney's strange, sad week on the trail.

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Comments

[NAOMA]

01:47 AM on 01/25/2012

Newt is an obese bag of wind. He should submit a mental and physical evaluation to the American public. Always "flying off the handle." What meds is he on? Why does he let himself look like he does -- get on a diet and get a personal trainer. Our future President should have a body that is
not so "repulsive." Just my comment -- but actually LOOK AT HIM!!!!

[QtheHero]

10:09 AM on 01/24/2012

The irony to Newt and Mitt is that as they try to rangle the nomination from each other they can not help but reveal each others flaws, not just in their politics but in all areas of their characters and personalities to the DEMs and the independent voters.

[Ryan Ferreira]

09:43 AM on 01/24/2012

There is just something about this guy that does not sit right

[l78lancer]

12:45 AM on 01/24/2012

Romney's own sanctimoniousness got him into this jam. Newt didn't do anything big or great. I certainly doesn't amount to any sort of politica accomplishment. For that matter he still needs to release more info concerning his Freddie Mac contracts because the one year he released has generated more questions that it has answered. But for Romney to not be able to see that this would be a problem, and for him to not be able to understand that Gingrich would exploited this issue demonstrates that even after campaigning for the past six years Mitt still isn't ready to compete at this level.

[philoec]

10:06 PM on 01/23/2012

This is depressing!
Are they "candidates" for a soap-opera contest or what?
A couple of clowns in need of attention, will continue their show doing nothing. It is proven, they are just in the race to GET ATTENTION, but the nation needs a leader, not a clown, enough with the one some "smart" sent to the Oval Room in 2008!!
Why people would, even consider any one of those???!!!

[Bill Halatsis]

06:54 PM on 01/23/2012

Speaker Gingrich has intimidated the other Republican field by coming out aggressively and never getting a counter punch, challenge or even cogent reply. He even attacks the moderator, Juan Williams, for asking a legitimate news question that he would have been remiss for not asking. Why didn't one of the other candidates come to Mr. Williams defense and get Newt to answer the question. Juan Williams twice let the candidates get away with saying that republicans created jobs by cutting taxes after WWII, but we had a top tax rate of 90% in the "50s

[Jay Lewis]

06:32 PM on 01/23/2012

By my lights, the continuing juggling act going on on the right has everything to do with trying to obfuscate facts about the now-institutionalized financial larceny going on.

Romney the candidate has materialized the rapacious greed and unsavory business practices into human form; now, we have a face to place on the sleazy, venal business practices. Before this, the more daring media components in our country were able to bring all this to the great granite wall of corporate America, where everything stopped and fell pa...lunk upon the ground.

Not that the modus operanti of Romney in terms of 'handling' his money--using off-shore and Swiss accounts, avoiding taxes by methods unknown to most working Americans, shuffling figures like a professional poker dealer on speed, corporate raiding that would make pirates of old envious--are illegal, they are not; instead it is that they are immoral, or perhaps more appalling, amoral . . . so much so that it, in a PR sense, makes it necessary to implement all this spinning of political tops.

Therefore, I love it that Romney is running, and inevitably vetted.

I love it more that he is running against Gingrich, a pirate of equal despicability.

[Jeff Adler]

05:44 PM on 01/23/2012

The Lead-in to this is a classic from the Department of Redundancy Department: "Romney Hoping For A Florida Comeback In Florida". Probably written by a Republicant blogger.

[JrHagler]

05:18 PM on 01/23/2012

It was Romney's turn to lead and then fall...Next batter up! Gingrich! Too bad Huntsman didn't hang around a little longer because he too would have his 15 minutes under the sun.

[Mickey46]

02:45 PM on 01/23/2012

I am an indepdent totally in the middle. Newt is the worst person to be running for President of the US. What is wrong w/Repub's (well I guess I know) they are too wrapped up in Mr Romney not being a far right Christian! So it is better to run a liar, cheat, money grabbing ex Congressman and boy the way someone who has broken almost all the commandments that the far right so loves.

[gurloc]

02:35 PM on 01/23/2012

Romney made the same mistake as Perry or Bachmann...he opened his mouth. The more you hear from any of these candidates the less you like them. I expect Gingrich will now talk himself out of the next primary and whichever candidate people have had the least personal exposure to in the past week will win.

They seriously need a 'none of the above' option on these ballots. Its clear the voters don't actually want to pick any of them.

[Activist Annie]

08:30 PM on 01/23/2012

You are very perceptive.

[JDZSB]

02:18 PM on 01/23/2012

Even Hillary Clinton held back her taxes for public scrutiny until April of her run for the Democratic candidacy against Obama, so what is the big deal about Romney's taxes? He is going to release them as well as historical tax statements and there will be nothing unusual to learn, we all know he is wealthy and not running for President for the money. And, that is a good question to ask ourselves...why is Romney running for President? Why did JFK run for President which cost him his life? And , the life of his brother Robert. What motivates a wealthy American to go into public service? One will say ego...others because of a family tradition of public service. Some, like maybe Obama, who believe they have been chosen to "rebalance" the culture of this country and to seek reparations for those that been taken advantage of by the power hungry and greedy few who founded this country. Newt Gingrich wants to save this country from becoming a first rate socialist country that is the goal of the Obama adminstration run by the elitist few who will tell us how to live our lives. Romney wants to "fix" our economic problems and create a "business friendly" government/private industry environment which will "jump start" the creation of long term white collar and skilled trade jobs for our middle class who are unemployed and in big trouble. We have to decide who we trust to do the "right" thing for the benefit

[stryker]

08:53 PM on 01/23/2012

Government is not a business, so Romney would be worthless. Gingrich, and you,woujldn;t know socialism if it bit you on the butt. As for the elitist few, who do you think controls the GOP? Do you think they keep cutting the taxes on the rich and driving the middle class to oblivion because they love America? The repubs now want an ologarchy of rich and poor in this country. They want to control wages, benefits (or what will be left of them) and how we spend what little money we would have under their rule. They will do away with minimum wages, SS, Medicare, unemployment, and anything else that would help the working people. And people like you are not smart enough to realize you are being taken for a ride to nowhere.

[Joebloblu]

09:06 PM on 01/23/2012

Dirty dealer Newt Gingrich is a liar and a hypocrite to the max. While I'm not much of a Romney fan either he certainly has more far more ability. Newt Gingrich wants to save this country? Gimme a break! All he will do is exacerbate the terrible economic and unemployment woes George Bush caused while stealing from the middle class (and the poor, needless to say) to give to the rich. The GOP is using fear mongering tactics by calling Obama a socialist, fighting him tooth and nail on every issue, and even trying to undo his accomplishments, like "Obamacare". America's health care system used to be so dismal, it was almost beyond words. Now it's guaranteed health care. It's the GOP politicians that seem to be the real haters of it. I can see the drug companies paying them to say what they say, like calling it a socialist plan. I mean the government HAS to get involved and regulate some things to keep citizens from getting screwed. How could you have the nerve to call our founding fathers "the power hungry and greedy few? Where would you be if it wasn't for all the hard work they accomplished? Yes, there were the Federalists, like Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, who felt that only the rich should govern. Men like these still had far more ability to govern responsibly than most of the GOP jokes we see now. (The Federalist party pretty much died out after about 1810.)

[sumogirl]

01:54 PM on 01/23/2012

Gingrich's "surge" is right...he crept up on Romney while Romney was sitting pretty and trying to avoid having to show his income tax filings. The damage has already been done in that regard. And so the games really begin.

[Michael Doane]

01:52 PM on 01/23/2012

Huckabee is a guy I don't much care for but four years ago he had a great line about Mitt that resonates all the more now that we know about Bain and Boston Consulting: "Mitt looks like the guy who fired your dad." Well, if your dad worked for companies that were scuttled by Bain, that's just the plain truth.

[BCSLAVE]

01:42 PM on 01/23/2012

I have seen Bain at work...its no job creator! Parasite or bird flu virus come to mind.

[stryker]

08:54 PM on 01/23/2012

Mitt and Bain supporters only mention Staples as their big success story. Why don't they mention the businesses that closed and whose workers lost their jobs?

[mashtoe]

08:58 PM on 01/23/2012

I don't know. Why don't Democrats who support free trade with communist China mention all the broken families that policy has caused? Why don't Democrats talk about the lost wages H-1b work visas have cost US workers? Why don't Democrats talk about the rising poverty caused by cheap labor caused by immigration (legal and illegal)? They only want to talk about the successes.