CNN is reporting that the Gingrich campaign expects another $10-million gift from Sheldon Adelson to his campaign, allowing him to be competitive in the Super Tuesday round of Republican primaries. Adelson has already given him $11-million. Along with $6-million he gave to Gingrich in the years leading up to this race, that will make $27-million altogether given to Gingrich during that time.
CNN’s report speculates that the new infusion is meant just as much to head off a possible Santorum victory in the primary race as it is to give Gingrich a shot at reviving the sagging fortunes of his campaign. According to this logic, Adelson wants to ensure that there is a three-way, rather than a two-way race so that the eventual winner is Romney, not Santorum. It would be interesting to know why Adelson has such an aversion to Santorum. A few answers appear here: Adelson does not oppose abortion and it is one of the hallmarks of Santorum’s campaign. Though I don’t know this for a fact, I’m guessing that Santorum’s Opus Dei-style social conservative Catholicism might put Adelson off. But even more importantly, Santorum is devoutly opposed to legalizing online gambling, a stance sure to raise the hackles of the gambling magnate.
The game of politics is often about not just who you want to win, but who you don’t. If Adelson cuts Santorum down a notch or two this time around, the latter may be a less formidable opponent for his guy, Newt, a few years down the line.
Given the weakness Mitt Romney showed in the most recent rounds of primaries and Rick Santorum’s resurgence, this gift may ensure that the presidential primary campaign is not even decided before the convention. If that happens, it may be the first time in decades such a party nomination wasn’t decided beforehand. In the past, this might’ve added drama and excitement to a convention. But given Romney’s weakness and the fact that he appears likely to win the nomination eventually, it will mean he is an even weaker candidate than he might otherwise be against Barack Obama.
As far as Gingrich, Santorum and the rest of the Republican far-right are concerned, a Romney defeat will be nothing to cry over. It will only force the Party to turn ever more decisively to their brand of politics in the next elections of 2014 and 2016.
I disagree with the National Review/Wall Street Journal analysis that you’ve summarized and linked to here.
If Adelson wanted to help Romney defeat Santorum, he could just donate the money to Romney directly (He has already pledged to support and assist him should he become the nominee).
I think that, instead, this donation suggests that Adelson actually believes that Newt himself still has a chance to win the nomination, and he wants to do what he can to make that possibility a reality.
I disagree. Having Newt stay in the race & keeping Newt’s supporters from moving to Santorum is critical to Romney if he is to win.
He has now said he may donate $100 million. I don’t think he would be pouring that kind of money into something he considers to be a lost cause. I believe he thinks a Gingrich resurgence may be in the offing. I wouldn’t be completely shocked if that turned out to be the case, considering the way things have gone in this race so far.
How much does one pay for a dead horse?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyXD_Kq3q4U “Sh*t Zionists Say” lol
He can just take lines from that movie and use them seriously. The rest of the enlightened world will laugh just as hard.
Predicting the internal maneuverings of the Republican Party is hopeless.
I am a libertarian, so don’t care much about both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
I do believe, though, that for the health of our country, we need real competition between the parties. Given how pathetic the Republican party has been acting and how now they are part of the AIPAC influence scheme, I am very discouraged for real progress in Washington to fix many of the fiscal problems we have. The level of discussion has effectively been limited to birth control pills, gay marriage, etc., all topics that should be none of the politicians business in the 21st century.
In a real world not controlled by Israeli Lobby thought police, Rachel Maddow would be explaining the intricacies of Adelson’s attempts to buy a US politician like Gingrich to further an Israeli Lobby-dicated attack on Iran
It’s amazing – how can the US media pretend to be analyzing anything when they can’t highlight a monster such as Adelson and how American politics are being run by AIPAC and Tel Aviv?
Maddow, Chris Matthews and every other US pundit of the current era bear RESPONSIBLITY as mini-Goebbels that have enabled the Israel Lobby to pull off the dictation of US foreign policy
The world is not controlled by Israeli Lobby thought police.
Other billionaires are donating large sums of money to the candidates of their choice as well.
Each has their own ideological reasons for doing so.
Not $27 million though. That’s a record & I predict he’ll spend $100 million in the general election. Mark my words.
Your crystal ball predicted correctly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4UWpEset9M&list=HL1329898430&feature=mh_lolz
What about Harold Simmons?
So far, Simmons has donated more to “American Crossroads” than Adelson has to “Winning Our Future”.
To date, Harold Simmons has donated over $14 million dollars.
For some reason, people don’t seem to be talking about him as much and what influence he is hoping to buy with this donation.
His bucks have been spread among several candidates, not just one like Adelson.
“How much does one pay for a dead horse?”
There can be a method in this madness. Two pictures come to my mind: in one, your throw some bleeding carcasses to the sea, and lo! sharks congregate, eager for more meat. In the second picture, and old cartoon really, someone shows a coin, keeping it high above the ground, and a crowd of little cute piggy banks stares hungrily, like puppies looking at a morsel.
In other words, a feeding frenzy may ensue with politicians anticipating huge payoff for reciting a little mantra so ably presented to Americans by Newt Gingrich. The waste is ostentatious, “there is many more mills left, come here, please me and enjoy in turn!”
Then it is possible that the senior gentleman lost some the the sharp mental acuitity that served him well in business for so many years, and perhaps the family should get some psychiatric evaluation.