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Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Wherever the insurgent and surging Republican candidate went, the name linked to the Democratic incumbent could be heard with a sneer: Saul Alinsky, the leftist community organizer and author of “Rules for Radicals.”
Ridiculing the Establishment favorite and fading front-runner as insufficiently conservative, the fiery former underdog continued an unlikely march to the nomination.
And over at Democratic Party headquarters, they high-fived each other over their money already spent to damage the anointed front-runner and their good fortune that the candidate they most wanted to face could actually win.
I speak not of the 2012 GOP presidential nomination fight between the reanimated Newt Gingrich and the animatronic Mitt Romney but of the 2010 U.S. Senate race between the given-up-for-dead Sharron Angle and the anointed one, Sue Lowden. But the similarities are striking and, perhaps, instructive of what is to come in the race for the White House, explaining both the GOP Brahmin panic and the confetti being unpacked in Chicago and the West Wing.
No two campaign situations, no matter how similar, are truly alike. Nor do I suggest Newt Gingrich is Sharron Angle — both radical in their non-Alinsky way — or that Mitt Romney is Sue Lowden — both Establishmentarian in their own way.
But I have for quite some time been amazed at how similar the race dynamics truly are, with a surprising rise by someone considered dead, fueled by an opponent’s blasé performance and unforced gaffes, and turbocharged by a large amount of money from an unexpected source. Sheldon Adelson is not the Tea Party Express, which fueled Angle’s ascension to overtake the moneyed Lowden, but his $10 million for the Gingrich-aligned super PAC has been as essential to Gingrich’s separation from the Bainfully rich Romney.
Angle invoked Alinsky in 2010 almost as often as Gingrich has this cycle, one of those dog whistles that only a few of the yapping faithful hear but nevertheless a routine part of the campaign patter. Her rise was as surprising as Gingrich’s as she rocketed by Lowden and never looked back — until she crashed to Earth in the general, that is.
Of all the analogies, though, the one rings the most true and should frighten Republicans the most, no matter how they feel about any of the candidates: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was as dead as Jacob Marley in the run-up to Campaign ’10 and only was resuscitated by a fantastic campaign, perhaps one of the best in American history, and a flawed opponent whom he helped choose by pummeling the favorite during the GOP primary.
President Obama’s numbers are not quite as upside down as Reid’s were, but the economy, health care reform and general dissatisfaction have made him seem as moribund as Reid seemed at the same time in 2010. All that could revive him was the Republicans playing into his hands and a spectacular ground game to get Democrats out to vote.
Déjà vu time, folks.
The Democrats now have the best of all possible worlds as they have driven up Romney’s negatives, just as Reid did with Lowden and she did to herself (remember, Chickens for Checkups?) and Gingrich’s unfavorable rating routinely is twice his favorable number. The Democrats want Gingrich because of his vast unpopularity with a general electorate, but thanks to Bain, taxes and more, which makes Chickens for Checkups look like a flesh wound, they are fine with Romney, too.
I was often asked two questions in the wake of the spectacular Reid victory in 2010 — and no, black helicopter set, I’m not talking about the one about how he fixed the balloting.
The first is whether Angle could have done anything to win. I’m not sure she could have, especially because she waited too long to get professional help.
Gingrich has campaign pros, but can they control his Angle-like tendency to extemporize? Not for long. Nobody puts Newt in a corner.
The other question was whether, if she had won, Lowden could have defeated Reid. I doubt it. She was too aloof, too unprepared, too susceptible to missteps. I think the Reid machine would have torn her apart by November.
Lowden could have dispensed with the chickens issue in a day but let it fester. So, too, could Romney have been better prepared for the request for his tax returns or his record at Bain, but instead it seems as if his team has a war room where everyone seems surprised there actually is war going on.
This truly does not bode well for the GOP, if you believe the Reid-Angle analogy is even close to apt. But perhaps a recent development can give Republicans hope that the scenarios are dissonant, that this year the GOP has a different angle to play: Sue Lowden has endorsed … Newt Gingrich.
That ought to make it all better.
It looks all too much like a Reid/Angle replay.
But what the GOP really needs to think about is the Senate. They will likely keep the House, but the Senate is in play and I think they would have a real shot at taking it if Romney is the nominee. I doubt they will do so with Gingrich at the top of the ticket.
Why? I think Democrats will be more motivated to show up at the polls just to be sure Gingrich won't win. But enough moderate Democrats (another rare breed today) might stay home if Romney is the challenger.
Very astute, Jon. We have seen this before in recent Nevada politics. It sure is shaping up like that again.
And the same players are backing them.
Mr. Adelson gives Mr. Gingrich a cool five million for South Carolina.
Now, MISSES Adelson shells out another slick five million for Mr. Gingrich for Florida.
I make a prediction.
I bet either Mr. Adelson's chauffeur or his pet dog writes a check for yet another five million for Mr. Gingrich here in Nevada.
If Mr. Adelson does succeed in getting Newt Gingrich nominated he will have done us all a great favor as Barack Obama will have an easier time of winning re-election.
hey I would vote for Hillary at this point, anyone who has some experience, time to cut the learning curve we can't afford it! After Obama has been mayor of Chicago for 4 years, maybe then Governor of IL then he can come back and try it. The truth is he just is not qualified to be president of the USA and I am not talking about his birthplace..
I feel that Obama will win reelection and the national debt will more than double to $25 trillion by the end of his two terms, taxes will go up and unemployment and the economy will not be any better. The one positive side, we have Obama for another term and will not have to deal with him again. Voters complain but when it counts they will continue to vote along party lines, no matter how bad of shape this nation is in, just look at California, voters continue to vote the same people into office even with term limits because their politicians just run for other offices.
Replay? Hardly. Call it a continuum of the same-o same-o.
Think of it this way - instead of dumb and dumber, it scum and scummier. Our politicos are chosen from the very dregs an outhouse cesspool. So it's just a matter of which scum we send into office. Sadly, we just keep doing it over and over and over.
Keep under-estimating Newt -- it's working for him so far!
This election is different but will have the
same results,
President Obama will have an easy win.
Americans can't afford another greedy republican
in the White House.
And the economy is starting to turn around for
the better.
We're not going back to greed and stupidity.
DEMOCRATS FOREVER!!!
It's not even close to being like Reid/Angle. Angle was a terrible candidate and should have never been on the ballot. If Louden or Tarkanian had won the primary they would have beaten Reid. Angle was another Chic Hecht in the making.
While multi-millionaire RINO Willard Romney turns red and mumbles when asked about his 13.9% tax rate, Gingrich takes off on his own WTF tangent, saying he'll "build a moon base by the end of my second term."
Earth to Newt ... Earth to Newt:
On a list of the top 100 things Americans care about most Moon Base does not make the list. We haven't even paid off Bush's $1.5 trillion wet dream nation building project in Iraq and you want to start another one? On the &@%#ing moon? Unbelievable.
The "Sharon Anglazation" of the race. This was clear in Iowa.
....Too long before seeking professional help." yes definitely.
Will Sharon Angle run for office on the Gingrich moon colony. She will be President on the "loonier state."