Weigel

Newt=$2.50 A Gallon Ga–Ah, We’re Already Distracted

On my desk, now and forever, sits the press pass from Newt Gingrich’s Super Tuesday party. It’s a laminated miniature of the just-a-little-iconic Super Tuesday Newt campaign logo: A gas pump with the Newt logo and a $2.50 price tag. In the closing days of the primary, this was almost all he talked about. Did it do him any good? Ask the exits. Oklahoma:
Screen shot 2012-03-07 at 11.37.33 AM
It’s an “important factor” for three-quarters of the electorate – a classic Gingrichian supermajority – but he only polls 2 points better with gasoholics than he polled statewide. Tennessee: Screen shot 2012-03-07 at 11.39.33 AM Well, that’s better: Gingrich wins 30 percent of the gas-conscious, 6 points better than his statewide total. And Georgia: Screen shot 2012-03-07 at 11.49.21 AM He actually did a little worse with the gas-conscious than he did with everyone else. This is an example, I think, of how hard it is to capture a brand new issue in the middle of an election. Not a flop, not a decisive factor for Gingrich.