JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Newt Gingrich tried to defend his claim
that Mitt Romney is “the most anti-immigrant candidate” in last
night’s Republican presidential debate here, an accusation that
Romney called “inexcusable” and “repulsive.”
Gingrich did not seem to understand that this accusation,
made in a Spanish-language radio ad aimed at South Florida’s large
Latino population, may actually end up helping Romney win next
week’s primary. The controversy stirred by the ad, which Gingrich
ordered his campaign to pull off the air, highlights differences of
policy — and puts Gingrich clearly to Romney’s left, which isn’t a
good place to be in a Republican primary.
After a long discussion of the issue, CNN moderator Wolf
Blitzer asked Gingrich, “I just want to make sure I understand. Is
[Romney] still the most anti-immigrant candidate?” The former House
Speaker answered: “I think, of the four of us, yes.” This provoked
a long response from Romney, who said he favors “enforcing the U.S.
law to protect our borders,” a position that is not
“anti-immigrant.” Romney accused Gingrich of “the kind of
over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics too
long,” and then invoked the most popular Republican in Florida:
“I’m glad that Marco Rubio called you out on it. I’m glad you
withdrew it. I think you should apologize for it, and I think you
should recognize that having differences of opinions on issues does
not justify labeling people with highly charged
epithets.”
Thursday’s debate, the 19th televised debate among
Republican presidential candidates this year, certainly did not
lack fireworks. And while many political junkies have become weary
of watching these affairs, the event here on the campus of the
University of North Florida may be as decisive as the South
Carolina debates that were credited with helping Gingrich score a
crucial win there Saturday.
Polls this week in Florida show Romney pulling away, and the
former Massachusetts governor had one of his best-ever debate
performances Thursday, while Gingrich had one of his worst
yet.
While arguments between the two Florida frontrunners got
the biggest play, however, Thursday was also an impressive
performance for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Polls show
Santorum running a distant third in the Sunshine State, but he
slammed both Gingrich and Romney for their previous stances on
health care. “This is the top-down model that both of
these gentlemen say they’re now against, but they’ve been for, and
it does not provide the contrast we need with Barack Obama if we’re
going to take on that most important issue,” Santorum said. “We
cannot give the issue of health care away in this election. It is
too foundational for us to win this election.”
This provoked an extended argument between Santorum and
Romney over the so-called “individual mandate” in the health
legislation Romney supported in Massachusetts. When Santorum’s
criticism of the Massachusetts plan grew heated, Romney replied by
saying “it’s not worth getting angry about.” Asked after the debate
about that flare-up, Santorum described himself as “passionate,”
and his passionate performance won praise from many conservatives,
including
Guy Benson of Townhall.com: “What a night for the former
Pennsylvania Senator … he definitely made a very serious case that
he might be the best Not Romney in the race.” Santorum seems
unlikely to score the kind of miraculous last-minute surge in the
Sunshine State that carried him to victory in the Iowa caucuses
three weeks ago, but Thursday’s debate could help him gain support
as he seeks to rekindle his campaign’s sense of
momentum.
At this point, no candidate in the race has been able to
win two consecutive contests. After Santorum edged Romney in Iowa,
Romney came back to win convincingly in New Hampshire. But Gingrich
won solidly in South Carolina, halting Romney’s momentum. If
current Florida polls are accurate and Romney wins here Tuesday,
the biggest challenge for Romney’s opponents will be to raise
enough money to continue the fight through a long
campaign.
