The clip below really couldn’t be much more emphatic; if you watched it, you’ll already know that, finally, Mitt Romney seemed to haul himself out of the doldrums with a commanding performance in the Primary debate last night. Here, swatting Gingrich away, he finally looks back to being a realistic Presidential Candidate. All of a sudden he has hitherto unseen confidence and authority. I think he’ll sweep Florida, now, and if he can retain the energy, sweep the nomination.
For those of us who fear Obama could be beaten at the election, the worry is that the experience of facing the populist agression of Gingrich, and the grassroots’ disdain, has changed Mitt Romney as a politician. If he’d have coasted through this nomination process, he’d be facing up to Obama as the listless, complacent Mitt that started this process in Iowa a couple of months back. But despite the many direct hits he’s taken from Newt through this campaign – all of which he’ll have to take again from Obama later this year – Mitt looks like he might finally have sharpened up and hit his stride. In a sense, he’s been handed a rehearsal for the election proper, and that could help him. Judging by yesterday’s debate, he looks like he might have enough in reserve to win – and to be a significantly improved candidate against Obama.
As always, it’ll be fascinating to watch Newt over the next few days. He looks highly irritated and badly winded in the clip below. Has he got one last burst of energy and can he channel it before Friday?
I doubt it.
