Romney to Gingrich: I Refuse To Narrow the Field To Two By Debating You One-on-One

Romney is really beginning to lose that credit I've been giving him as the smart, organized, disciplined, electable one.

I suppose it's wise to not debate Gingrich. But the fact that he doesn't suggests to me he imagines he'd lose. And I assume he knows himself better than I do. (I've reconsidered; see the quote and yap-yap after it.)

Wait, I just read his statement.

“We’ve had many occasions to debate together, and we’ll have more — I presume quite a few more — before this is finished,” Mr. Romney told the Associated Press. “But I’m not going to narrow this down to a two-person race while there are still a number of other candidates that are viable, important candidates in the race. I want to show respect to them.”

Okay, that makes a great deal of sense. No, I don't believe he's showing respect to the other candidates. But Romney of course does not want it as Romney vs. Gingrich, because all the anti-Romney vote tends to move to Gingrich.

I was wrong. There's nothing wrong with ducking this debate. Gingrich has invited him to commit a strategic error, and Romney, wisely, declines that invitation.

Oh, and Romney picked up the support of President Bush.

No, I mean the one whose endorsement tends to hurt him.

“I think Romney is the best choice for us,” former President Bush told the Houston Chronicle this week. “I like Perry, but he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere; he’s not surging forward.”

Bush said he had known Romney for many years and also knew his father, George Romney, a former Republican governor of Michigan who ran for president in 1968.

Bush said he supported Romney because of his “stability, experience, principles. He’s a fine person,” he said. “I just think he’s mature and reasonable – not a bomb-thrower.”

Bush denied that the latter label implied that the candidate field includes any bomb-throwers.

“I’ve got to be a little careful, because I like Perry; he’s our governor,” he said.

...

Choosing his words carefully, the former president said he knew Gingrich relatively well. “I’m not his biggest advocate,” he said.

“I had a conflict with him at one point,” Bush recalled, alluding to the crucial moment in 1990 when a recession drove him to renege on his “no new taxes” pledge. He needed a bipartisan group of party leaders, including then-House Whip Gingrich, to stand with him.

He criticizes Gingrich for agreeing to support the tax hikes, then, without warning, changing his mind and campaigning against it.

Perry's Not Going Anywhere?

Unlike Romney, who has surged all the way from 23% support to 23% support.

OCBill pointed that out.

via @tbflan

posted by Ace at 01:31 PM

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