Romney Regains Momentum With Maine, CPAC Wins

UPDATE: Mitt Romney surely breathed a sigh of relief Saturday night. His twin victories in Maine and at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference managed to put him comfortably back into the front-runner spot after a week when all the momentum seemed to belong to Rick Santorum.

The complex Maine vote, in which some caucuses had held caucuses as early as January, didn’t really mean much in terms of delegates since the results are nonbinding. But losing it would have been interpreted as a sign of Romney’s difficulty sealing the deal with Republicans following his defeats in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri last week. “Those losses suddenly increased the symbolic importance of Maine’s all-but-ignored caucuses,” explains the New York Times.

Still, Romney’s victory left much to be desired. The former governor won 39 percent of the vote, merely three percentage points ahead of Ron Paul, who got 36 percent. Rick Santorum won 18 percent, while Newt Gingrich, who didn’t even campaign in Maine, received 6 percent. Romney got less support this year than in 2008, when he won 52 percent support. Regardless of the details, Maine gave Romney the only opportunity “to reset the race’s narrative” before the nomination battle enters a lull, writes the Washington Post. Paul had seen Maine as his big chance to win a state, particularly since he has a strong core of support in the state but ultimately fell short, notes Reuters.

Romney’s victory at CPAC also gave him an important boost with the GOP base. At the straw poll of the annual conservative gathering, Romney won 38 percent of the vote, handily beating Santorum, who got 31 percent. Gingrich won 15 percent of the vote and Paul, 12 percent.

As in Maine, a win doesn’t really mean much, but a loss would have continued to hammer at the perception that Romney is having trouble winning over a significant part of the GOP base. Romney’s campaign worked hard to assure the CPAC win, with volunteers pushing supporters to vote throughout Saturday. For his part, Gingrich’s third place is seen as yet another sign that the former House speaker “has faded,” writes Politico. Conservative leaders now seem to be putting their support behind Santorum.

With these fresh victories under his belt, Romney can now take advantage of the unusual break in the Republican race to continue raising money and extend his financial advantage over rivals, notes the Associated Press. The next debate is 10 days away, and there won’t be any voting until Arizona and Michigan hold their primaries on Feb. 28. Even though Santorum saw a huge spike in donations last week, he’s still unlikely to catch up with Romney. After all, Santorum had a mere $279,000 in the bank by the end of last year, while Romney had $19.9 million.

Saturday, Feb. 11: In order to try to push back against Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney is trying to boost his conservative credentials. The former governor has long tried to focus on his business background rather than ideology but is now changing tactics and placing increased emphasis on trying to win over the Republicans who have long felt uneasy about him, notes the Associated Press. That’s why his speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Committee’s annual meeting was seen as a key opportunity. But now all that anybody seems to be able to talk about was a curious adverb choice.

“I was a severely conservative Republican governor,” Romney said. The prepared remarks merely said “a conservative governor” but he appeared to find it necessary to highlight the point. “When Romney went off-script, with a single adverb, he described conservatism as if it were a disease,” writes the Atlantic’s Molly Ball. The reaction came quickly. “I have never heard anybody say, ‘I’m severely conservative,’ ” Rush Limbaugh said. Newt Gingrich refused to respond: “Some things are too funny to comment on.”

The truth is, Romney did get lots of applause during his speech that not only defended his conservative credentials—he said the word “conservative” or “conservatism” in nearly every sentence, reports NPR—but also attacked President Obama. Still, the adverb moment seemed to exemplify every doubt that conservatives have long had about the former Massachusetts governor. “By going off-script to use an awkward modifier that no movement conservative would ever affix to themselves, he made clear why, despite vast advantages in money and organization, he’s still struggling to win the trust of a party base needed to secure the GOP presidential nomination,” writes Politico. “He’s just not a natural fit.”

Indeed, several news outlets repeat a joke that different people seemed to be telling at the annual conservative gathering: A conservative, a liberal, and a moderate walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Hi Mitt!” As one CPAC attendee tells the Washington Post, Romney is “a little bit like the guy on the playground who gives himself a nickname.”

Despite the general skepticism of his conservative credential, many at CPAC did express support for Romney, not because of his qualities but because he is seen as the best choice to beat President Obama in November, notes CBS News.

Romney’s rivals, however, hit back hard against the suggestion that a candidate they've long described as a moderate would be the best choice for the party. Santorum specifically said that it was a mistake to try to nominate someone the GOP base doesn’t particularly care for. “We always talk about how are we going to get the moderates?” Santorum said. “Why would an undecided voter vote for a candidate of a party who the party's not excited about?”