Today's New Hampshire primary, billed as the first in the nation, has long been expected to be a Romney romp. The former governor of a bordering state is widely known and polls well in the Granite State. However, expectations are already being lowered by the Romney camp, as Paul, Huntsman and now even Santorum have improved their standings late in the game. At this point, some pundits say anything less than a 20 point win will be a poor finish for the Mitt-Flopper.
Perhaps not helping matters is the brutal web video attacking Romney's record of job annihilation while an executive at Bain, released by a Super PAC supporting Gingrich. Here's just the preview:
The video was released by a group called "Winning America's Future." As they write on the website www.KingofBain.com,
"Capitalism made America great - free markets, innovation, hard work - the building blocks of the American Dream. But in the wrong hands some of those dreams can turn into nightmares. This film is about one raider and his firm and how they destroyed that dream for thousands of Americans and their families - Mitt Romney and Bain Capital."
The group is being funded by Sheldon Adelson, a wealthy casino magnate who has a decades-long relationship with Gingrich. They became buddies in the 1990's when they worked to block labor organizing together in Las Vegas. The New York Timesprofiled the relationship between the two today, noting that Gingrich's supporters had largely given up on Adelson as a source of funding for their Super PAC activities:
But on Friday, the cavalry arrived: a $5 million check from Mr. Adelson to Winning Our Future, a "super PAC" that supports Mr. Gingrich. By Monday morning, the group had reserved more than $3.4 million in advertising time in South Carolina, a huge sum in a state where the airwaves come cheap and the primary is 11 days away. The group is planning to air portions of a movie critical of Mr. Romney's time at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he helped found.
The last-minute injection underscores how last year's landmark Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance has made it possible for a wealthy individual to influence an election. Mr. Adelson's contribution to the super PAC is 1,000 times the $5,000 he could legally give directly to Mr. Gingrich's campaign this year.
The ad is pretty devastating. If Romney becomes the nominee, his primary opponents will have done plenty of the work to help alienate the Republican base from the flip-flopping, job-killing, millionaire-coddling candidate.
What do you think? Is this a good attack, and will it resonate long after the GOP primary is over?
