Romney, the former Massachusetts governor making his second bid for the presidency, has amassed a considerable campaign bank account and has built a formidable political machine.
Gingrich, a former House of Representatives speaker, has seen resurgence in polling and fundraising after a near-meltdown this summer. In a short time, he has worked to build an organization but his challenge remains matching the public’s interest with the finer points of a traditional campaign.
The pair’s rivals, though, are unwilling to concede that the race to challenge President Barack Obama is down to the two. An NBC News/Marist poll released Sunday shows Gingrich surging to more than 42 percent support to Romney’s 23 percent in South Carolina; in Florida the former speaker is favored by 44 percent of those polled, to Romney’s 29 percent. No one else in the field breaks 10 percent in either state.
Yet the topsy-turvy race remains fluid, and the struggling candidates are hoping to deflate Romney and Gingrich by noting similarities on issues that could concern conservatives. There are roughly three weeks until Iowa’s caucuses and much can change in a race that has been remarkably fluid. Conservatives have yet to rally behind a single candidate and Gingrich’s record, as well as Romney’s, could provide the other candidates a chance to climb from behind.
With focused criticism, they’re working to cast the pair as clones and unacceptable to the party’s conservative base, which has huge sway in deciding the nomination.
Rep. Michele Bachmann combined the two leaders into a “Newt Romney” character. Rep. Ron Paul said Gingrich and Romney “come from the same mold.” Texas Gov. Rick Perry said voters aren’t looking for a fact-spewing “robot.” All attempted to claw their way back into the campaign that has suddenly become a two-man race.
Iowa’s lead-off caucuses are coming quickly. The candidates have spent months — if not years — preparing for the nominating process that starts Jan. 3. Perry spent Sunday in Iowa and planned to return Wednesday for a marathon bus tour across the state.
Romney and Gingrich at one time backed requiring individuals to purchase health insurance, although both decry the federal provision in Democrats’ health care law — an issue held dear by conservatives who dominate the primary process. Both also supported the Wall Street bailout, government subsidies for ethanol and the science suggesting humans play a role in climate change — all toxic among the party’s orthodox.
Campaigning in Iowa, Perry said Romney’s past support for health care mandates should haunt him.
Earlier in the day, he said voters “are looking for somebody who’s got values that are based with a deep rudder in the water.”
“And I am consistent in my conservative values. I have been consistent. And Americans are looking for someone who is going to make the right decisions, not someone who can either read a teleprompter perfectly or spit out by memory a list of names.”
Perry’s comments hinted at his own stumbles. As he campaigned last week, he confused Iraq and Iran during a campaign stop in South Carolina. He later said there were eight members of the nine-justice Supreme Court and mangled Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s name during an interview with The Des Moines Register.
Similarly, Paul has struggled to find footing despite legions of loyal supporters. The libertarian-leaning favorite of a hardcore slice of the electorate, Paul has aggressively challenged Gingrich over “hypocrisy” in ads running in Iowa. He also challenged Romney’s bona fides.
Meanwhile, Obama laid out an argument for a second term in a wide-ranging interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday, bluntly saying that if voters believe in the Republican agenda of lower taxes, including for the wealthy, and weaker regulations then he will lose.
“I don’t think that’s where the American people are going to go,” he added, “because I don’t think the American people believe that based on what they’ve seen before, that’s going to work.”
