If Newt hadn't gotten into the race, what would the field look like now?

[Amelia]

Newt challenged Romney so in a way he has made Romney stronger. Without Newt there, would there have been another strong candidate to go toe-to-toe with Mitt in a credible way? Would Romney sort of be coasting and thus in a way weaker?

Would Santorum have gotten more traction, perhaps enough to be the lone anti-Romney.

Would a different candidate without Santorum's religious negatives and without Newt's career, temperament & family values negatives have decided there was room in the field for him to enter?

 

[Dot Com]

Yeah. He sucks all the air out of the room just like a Palin candidacy was projected to do.

Virtually all the Sunday talk show/pundits say his candidacy hurts the Repub brand every day he stays in the race.

 

[Intense]

Newt challenged Romney so in a way he has made Romney stronger. Without Newt there, would there have been another strong candidate to go toe-to-toe with Mitt in a credible way? Would Romney sort of be coasting and thus in a way weaker?

Would Santorum have gotten more traction, perhaps enough to be the lone anti-Romney.

Would a different candidate without Santorum's religious negatives and without Newt's career, temperament & family values negatives have decided there was room in the field for him to enter?

Catholic bashing are we? Naughty, Naughty.

 

[ladyliberal]

So many things happened in this race that I couldn't have predicted. I have no idea what would have happened without Newt. If I had to guess, I'd say something similar to what has actually happened, with Perry clawing his way back as the strongest anti-Romney candidate.

 

[Intense]

Yeah. He sucks all the air out of the room just like a Palin candidacy was projected to do.

Virtually all the Sunday talk show/pundits say his candidacy hurts the Repub brand every day he stays in the race.

Like you care.

 

[Dot Com]

Daniels or T-Paw might have considered getting back in the race but, as I said, Newt sucks all the air out of the room.

 

[Avatar4321]

Without newt? I think the anti-Romney vote would have Coalesced around Santorum or Perry.

If you see the thread I started earlier, Santorum is polling better than Romney head to head. I would think we'd be seeing Santorum as the Nominee, but then as we can't really predict, Perry might have gotten it instead.

 

[zzzz]

Four states and the election is over. The rest of the country has to live with it. Can Romney beat Obama or have those four states guaranteed another four years of Obama? The problem is will Republicans turn out in the fall to vote? Romney does not seem to inspire the faithful.

 

[Oscar Wao]

If Newt hadn't gotten into the race, and the race is the same as it is now currently, there'd be a REAL battle between Santorum and Paul for the anti-Romney spot. And of course, Paul would win, considering Washington, Maryland, New Jersey, and Maine are on their way to instituting marriage equality.