StemCell Therapy

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — The stakes are high, but Mitt Romney isn?t
showing much worry as he caravans across Florida this weekend
with a sudden swagger and the newfound looseness of a
front-runner who thinks he?s cleared the obstacles in his path.

Romney is coming out of the toughest stretch of his campaign,
which was punctuated by a stinging loss to Newt Gingrich in the
South Carolina primary. Now, he has opened a lead in the
Florida polls before the state?s primary on Tuesday and is
aggressively trying to dispatch Gingrich and focus on President
Barack Obama.

Gingrich, however, said Saturday he would go ?all the way to
the convention? and predicted a ?wild and woolly? campaign for
the next few days. His well-financed allies showed no signs of
letting up their televised assault on Romney, while former
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin rushed to Gingrich?s defense, in a sign
he might mobilize the party?s grass-roots conservatives.

The former House speaker, who has drawn large and enthusiastic
crowds all week, said he would become the nominee if he wins
Florida. And if he doesn?t, he said, he would be back in Tampa
for this summer?s Republican National Convention.

?I will go all the way to the convention,? Gingrich said. ?I
expect to win the nomination. You just had two national polls
that show me ahead. Why don?t you ask Governor Romney what he
will do if he loses since he is behind in both national polls??

Earlier this week, Romney launched methodical attacks at
Gingrich designed to rattle him and raise questions about his
trustworthiness and leadership skills. But the past few days,
while Gingrich takes bitter swipe after bitter swipe at him,
Romney has hardly attacked his rival at all. When he has, his
lines have been more humorous than high-handed.

In Pensacola Saturday morning, Romney jabbed his sidekick, John
McCain of Arizona, about the mischievous tales of the senator?s
Navy pilot youth. He won polite laughter after telling an
awkward joke about a pick-up driver in Wyoming with stinky
animals in the back. He confided his nervousness about making
?chitchat? with actor Jon Voight while phoning him to seek his
endorsement.

And Romney said nothing about Gingrich other than to liken him
to ?Goldilocks.?

?We?ve had about 18 debates so far,? Romney told hundreds of
supporters who filled the docks and balconies. ?They?re getting
more and more fun as time goes on. This last one, Speaker
Gingrich said he didn?t do so well because the audience was so
loud. The one before, he said he didn?t do so well because the
audience was too quiet. This is like Goldilocks, you know,
you?ve got to get it just right.?

Aides say Romney is having more fun here than he has all during
the campaign, and the campaign put that confidence on display
Saturday afternoon by turning up Van Halen and driving Romney?s
campaign bus up to the dock at a Panama City shipyard to
deliver the candidate to his rally in grand fashion.

?I just feel like things are going in our direction,? Romney
said at the rope line following the rally. ?I think we are
going to win here.?

Romney?s candidacy is on the line in Florida; a loss here to
Gingrich would cast fresh and serious doubt on his ability to
consolidate the party behind his candidacy. But buoyed by his
newly aggressive performance in Thursday?s debate — McCain
called it a rare ?knockout? — Romney is rallying Republicans in
this sprawling swing state with talk not of the primary, but of
the fall general election.

?When I debate the president, I?m not going to worry about the
audience,? Romney told the Pensacola crowd. ?I?m going to make
sure that we take down Barack Obama and take back the White
House.?

Yet as the sun started to fall Saturday afternoon, Romney
returned briefly to his tough talk against Gingrich. ?I?m
speaking to you today as if I?m already the candidate for the
Republican party, but I?m not,? he acknowledged. ?I?m running
against Speaker Gingrich — a very nice fellow, and he?s a
historian. But that doesn?t give him the right to rewrite
history.?

Romney revisited the tumultuous end of Gingrich?s speakership,
noting that he ?resigned in disgrace. . . .We have to go back
and look at history and say he may be a great guy with great
ideas, but he?s not going to be the leader we need.?

At Boston headquarters, meanwhile, Romney?s team kept its boot
on Gingrich?s neck. Aides launched a Twitter campaign to brand
Gingrich ?Newtorious.? For weeks, Romney has been running an
aggressive early-voting and absentee-ballot campaign here,
holds with his allies a more than 2-1 advantage in television
advertising spending.

Romney?s campaign released a tough new ad in Florida titled
?History Lesson,? which entirely consists of Tom Brokaw
anchoring a vintage ?NBC Nightly News? broadcast about Gingrich
being reprimanded for ethics violations as speaker.

NBC News quickly asked the Romney campaign to pull the ad off
the air.

?I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my
personal image in this political ad,? Brokaw said in a
statement.

Gingrich?s campaign pounced too, issuing a statement slamming
Romney for ?another big lie.? Gingrich aides said the ad
neglects to point out that the IRS cleared Gingrich of the
?substance? of the ethics charges.

Palin took to Facebook to defend Gingrich in a post titled:
?Cannibals in GOP Establishment Employ Tactics of the Left.?

?We need a fair primary that is not prematurely cut short by
the GOP establishment using Alinsky tactics to kneecap Governor
Romney?s chief rival,? Palin wrote, referring to Saul Alinsky,
the left-wing community organizer Gingrich often quotes.

On the stump, Gingrich tried to keep his focus on Obama and the
stark contrast he believes he would provide with the incumbent.
He said the GOP nominated a ?moderate? in 1996 and 2008 and
lost. ?If we nominate a moderate, we are in real trouble,? he
said. ?It?s that simple.?

Later, addressing a tea party crowd in Winter Haven, Gingrich
got a standing ovation for saying that stem-cell research
amounts to ?the use of science to desensitize society over the
killing of babies.?

But Gingrich is struggling to keep his message focused on
Obama. At each turn, he kept returning to his grievances
against Romney. It hasn?t helped that four congressmen
supporting Romney have been following Gingrich to his campaign
events to spin the press corps.

At a golf course in Port St. Lucie, Gingrich spokesman R.C.
Hammond led reporters and TV cameras to provoke a confrontation
with Rep. Connie Mack of Florida, a Romney supporter, over who
would make the better president. When Hammond came over, Mack
quickly launched into a browbeating about Gingrich?s work for
Freddie Mac, the federally backed mortgage giant that paid his
firm $1.6 million for consulting work.

?Is he a lobbyist?? Mack asked. ?The Florida voters deserve and
answer about what kind of influence he?s been peddling. He
won?t answer. Instead he belittles them.?

Original post:
Polls lift Romney campaign

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