US election 2012: Newt Gingrich overshadows Mitt Romney’s attempt to move on from primaries

The protracted nature of Mr Gingrich’s exit has become indicative of Mr
Romney’s failure to enthuse his party’s conservative grassroots during a
long and bitter Republican primary campaign. He is still to receive an
endorsement from Rick Santorum, the evangelical Catholic who pulled out of
the race two weeks ago.

Despite this, Mr Romney attempted to take his general election message to a
wider audience late on Tuesday night with a major speech in Manchester, New
Hampshire that followed his five victories in Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York.

He said he accepted the “honour and solemn responsibility” of the Republican
nomination and declared the “beginning of the end” of the Obama
presidency.

Trying to put his party’s division behind him, Mr Romney took inspiration from
the optimism of the Ronald Reagan’s famous “It’s morning again in America”
campaign, by promising that “a better America begins tonight”.

“To all of the thousands of good and decent Americans I’ve met who want
nothing more than a better chance, a fighting chance, to all of you, I have
a simple message: Hold on a little longer,” Mr Romney told several hundred
cheering supporters.

While running to unseat Jimmy Carter in 1980, Reagan asked simply: “Are you
better off than you were four years ago?” Mr Romney asked: “What do we have
to show for three and a half years of President Obama?”

The speech focused on the sluggish economy, contrasting Mr Romney’s own record
as a ‘Mr Fixit’ of the business world against Mr Obama’s “failed” first term.

“Not every business made it and there were good days and bad days, but every
day was a lesson,” he said of his time as boss of venture capitalists Bain
Capital, “And after 25 years, I know how to lead us out of this stagnant
Obama economy and into a job-creating recovery!”

And turning the famous Clinton campaign maxim on its head, the 65-year-old
former management consultant said: “It’s still about the economy and we’re
not stupid.”

Accusing Mr Obama of ‘dazzling’ and then failing to deliver, he added: “He’s
asking us to accept that Washington knows best — and can provide all. We’ve
already seen where this path leads. It erodes freedom. It deadens the
entrepreneurial spirit. And it hurts the very people it’s supposed to help.”

The speech was delivered after Mr Romney increased his delegate tally to
nearly 800, still short of the ‘magic number’ of 1,144 he needs to win the
nomination which he cannot now achieve until the end of May, leaving him in
a kind of electoral limbo, as winner-in-waiting.

A face-to-face meeting between Mr Romney and Mr Santorum – who are said to
have developed a personal animosity during the campaign – is planned for May
4, but senior Santorum aides have warned in advance not to expect an
immediate endorsement after the meeting.

Mr Santorum’s foot-dragging contrasts strongly, for example, with that of
Hillary Clinton in the 2008 democratic nomination fight, who issued a
full-throated endorsement of Barack Obama despite a bruising and personal
primary contest that at one point reduced her to tears.

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