Newt's strategy backfiring

Blowback from Newt's super-PAC ads against Romney, attacking him for being a corporate raider, is even gustier than expected. Now even his own benefactor, Sheldon Adelson, is sending sources out to defend him against criticism of Gingrich's Bain video. Gingrich continues on, trying to win South Carolina on the premise that he can eclipse Romney as the true conservative, and insists the scrutiny of Romney's Bain years is necessary. No matter that the Democratic National Committee had already started calling Romney a "job cremator" instead of a job creator. Cute, huh?

The chorus of conservatives rising up against Gingrich grows stronger by the day, and as I noted in my column this week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who endorsed Romney in 2008 but refuses to endorse anyone this time, has all but done so again by speaking out against Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry for indulging in attacks on Romney's work at Bain.

The group defending Gingrich and Perry is small; even former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) refuses to join in the fun. Sarah Palin, however, jumped on the Bainwagon, and wants "proof" of Romney"s contention that his work at Bain Capital produced 100,000 jobs. Speaking on "Hannity" on Fox News Channel on Wednesday, Palin — whose husband has endorsed Gingrich — defended the Bain ads and said "that's not negative campaigning, that's fair to get a candidate to be held accountable to what's being claimed."

The bottom line is this — without a sudden surge for Santorum in the Palmetto State, Romney can pull off a win there and wrap the nomination fight up for good. As long as Gingrich, Perry and Santorum, let alone former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), stay in the race, the better things are for Romney. And no matter what the outcome, it's hard to see the Bain video helping Gingrich in the near or short term.


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