JACKSONVILLE , Fla ? This was Newt Gingrich?s last chance to shine on the big stage before Tuesday. It did not go as hoped.
Gingrich and Mitt Romney were supposed to be the main attractions, but Rick Santorum and Ron Paul won notice at the 19th GOP debate, hosted by CNN at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
Continue ReadingBelow are POLITICO?s seven takeaways:
1) This was the ?Trading Places? debate
For a 120 minutes, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich essentially traded roles ? Romney, often meek and shrill-sounding as he defended himself this cycle, became the aggressor, and Gingrich, who?s played the debate hall crowd like a musical instrument in the past, seemed to shrink from the attacks.
Romney came with balled-up fists to the debate stage, and swung hard at Gingrich during the first few questions ? in the exact fashion that the former House Speaker has typically gone at the front-runner.
It worked. Romney had the thing that has eluded him most this cycle ? a ?moment.?
The former Massachusetts governor, apparently having gotten the message that Florida?s outcome could be political life or death for him, slammed Gingrich hard for a now-pulled radio ad in which he described Romney as ?anti-immigrant.? A newly-confident Romney called the charge ?repulsive? and even demanded an apology.
The crowd, in its first roar of the night, loved it ? and Romney was off and running.
Even if there were moments where Romney could have hit Gingrich even harder ? he left the former House Speaker?s support for the individual health care mandate untouched, for instance ? he still gave the most confident answer he?s given to date on being proud of his successes, sounding something close to comfortable, for the first time, discussing his wealth.
Nevertheless, he made mistakes ? saying ?I have a trustee? and declaring he?s never voted for a Democrat if a Republican was also on the ballot were among them, neither of which were necessary to say or helpful to his cause. Two other fumbles: His ?doubting? that a negative ad against Gingrich is being aired by his campaign (it is) and his answer on taxes, which got very in the weeds about his money manager.
But it?s the first half-hour of almost every GOP debate that?s set the tone for the rest ? so the debate counts as a victory for Romney, who needed to keep the momentum from moving away from him again.
2) Whither Gingrich?
It was Gingrich who needed to recapture his momentum and he simply couldn?t do it.
For someone who has made performances in debates central to his candidacy, this was an unusual night.
The former House Speaker, appealingly pugnacious to GOP voters in past debates, simply seemed worn out and off point. Gone was the brawler who could whip up the crowd. And it?s not quite clear where he went.
He never raised any of the well-worn phrases he?s used to define Mitt Romney on the stump ? ?Massachusetts moderate? comes to mind. He also bypassed an opportunity to hit Romney over his Massachusetts health-care plan.
Gingrich?s pushback against Romney over the immigration issue simply failed to connect. He initially tried to avoid repeating his criticisms of Romney?s now-closed Swiss bank account on the debate stage ? something he?s hit him for on the trail in the last few days ? and attempted to retreat toward defending the entire GOP field from the mainstream media?s divisive questions.
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