'I will fight on' insists Gingrich despite defeat
Las Vegas
Monday 06 February 2012
Latest in Americas
Related articles
On Facebook
From the blogs
Disclosure: We’d never even been to a club when we made our first single
For most of us, reaching eighteen years of age opens up a new world for exploration, spontaneity and...
Top of the posts: Drunken rants, the Western Fail and misogyny pushers
The most read blogs this week, as determined by stats.
Sepp Blatter: Penalty shoot-outs must remain, they’re football’s great leveller
As England supporters, we should scorn at any such deciding factor within football. On so many occas...
Why do some men consider the street as a female meat market?
Pronouncements on sexual inequality in the UK are normally met with an eye roll by my generation. As...
He looked less like a contender for the US presidency, and more like Comical Ali, the Iraqi PR minister famed for declarations of impending victory in the jaws of catastrophic defeat.
A simmering Newt Gingrich stood at a lectern at the Venetian resort in Las Vegas on Saturday night, and attempted to convince America that his campaign remains viable following a second hammering at the polls.
He began by putting "one thing to rest": "I am a candidate for President of the United States. I will be a candidate for President of the United States." Despite mischievous rumours to the contrary, he has no intention of quitting before the GOP convention in late August.
As a "true conservative", Mr Gingrich insisted that he can still beat a "pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax, George-Soros approved candidate of the establishment" – even if Mr Romney is running "the most dishonest, dirty campaign I've seen in American politics".
The former Speaker's press conference replaced a traditional election-night "victory" celebration. It lasted a little over 20 minutes and was attended by the dwindling band of reporters still being assigned to his events.
Across town, at a resort called Red Rocks, Mitt Romney was doing his best Cheshire Cat impersonation, as 600 electrified fans greeted his triumph in the Nevada caucuses. With 71 per cent of precincts reporting, Mr Romney had 48 per cent of the vote, more than double Mr Gingrich's 23 per cent. Ron Paul was third, with 19 per cent, and Rick Santorum had 11 per cent.
Politics can be a cruel game, and Mr Gingrich faced impertinent questions. He'd lost Nevada because he had been "outspent by five to one," he argued. And in any case, this was a "very heavily Mormon state".
Mr Gingrich may very well return to the theme of Mr Romney's faith in advance of "Super Tuesday" on 6 March, when the campaign hits Southern states dominated by evangelical Christians, who tend to dislike Mormons.
His supposed path to victory involves success in those key battlegrounds. He claims that he'll then take a share of the lead, in terms of delegates pledged, after the Texas primary on 3 April.
On paper, that's a valid proposition. But in a race where momentum is everything, the calendar is stacked firmly against Mr Gingrich: tomorrow will see Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri go to the polls. He trails Mr Romney badly in the first two states, and is not on the ballot in the third.
- 1 Mark Zuckerberg saved $111m by selling Facebook shares before stock slumped
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 News in pictures
- 4 Tory chief Warsi failed to declare rent income from flat
- 5 In pictures: The bewildering face of China
- 6 Osborne to face questions over links to Murdoch
- 7 Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?
- 8 Postgraduate students are being used as 'slave labour'
- 9 Günter Grass attacks Merkel for Athens policy
- 10 Exclusive dispatch: Assad blamed for massacre of the innocents
- 1 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 2 Fat? Really? Olympic hope laughs off official’s jibe – but others aren’t amused
- 3 Leading article: Ten questions for Jeremy Hunt
- 4 Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?
- 5 'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'
- 6 Postgraduate students are being used as 'slave labour'
- 7 African monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV
- 8 Exclusive dispatch: Assad blamed for massacre of the innocents
- 9 Coke reveals its secret: It may need to carry a cancer warning
- 10 French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
The secret life of the red carpet
Up and away – how '7 Up' went global



Comments