Bring the GOP primary to a close

As Mitt Romney claimed his third win of the primary season in Nevada Saturday night, the fight for the nomination continues — Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have all pledged to stay in the race. But while Romney is pulling ahead of the rest of the pack, Republican voters need to question the relevance of the remaining candidates. 

Let’s take a look at Saturday’s Nevada caucus. Romney won by almost 30 percent, partly due to a significant amount of Mormon members in the Nevada GOP. However, Romney still would have won by at least 17 percent without the Mormon vote. In addition to Mormons, he also won among Protestants and Catholics. His victory was decisive; according to The Washington Post, Romney won among self-identified conservatives, Tea Party members, women, men, low-income and high-income voters. Mitt Romney won a majority of “very conservative” voters (51 percent). He also won 48 percent of the vote among evangelicals (48–27 percent) over Gingrich.

Romney’s victory speech was perhaps his best to date — pointedly directed at Barack Obama with the general election in mind. He started to present his case against President Obama, saying:

“Three years ago, a newly elected President Obama told America that if Congress approved his plan to borrow nearly a trillion dollars, he would hold unemployment below 8 percent. It hasn’t been below 8 percent since. This week he’s been trying to take a bow for 8.3 percent unemployment. Not so fast, Mr. President. This is the 36th straight month with unemployment above the red line your own administration drew. And if you take into account all the people who are struggling for work or who have just stopped looking, the real unemployment rate is over 15 percent.”

Romney’s rhetoric is much different than Gingrich’s, who seems clearly intent on destroying Romney — even though he knows his smears could hurt the potential nominee in the general election. Just like classic Newt, he has no regard for his party and no respect for his fellow candidates. In Florida, he accused Romney of cutting kosher food for Holocaust survivors. In Nevada, Gingrich accused Romney of hating the poor. These types of false and baseless attacks do no good for the candidates or the Republican Party. 

Thankfully, Romney has raised enough money through fundraising to respond to Gingrich’s negative campaign. Politico reported that the Romney campaign raised $24.3 million between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 and has almost $20 million cash on hand and no debt. Romney has almost 10 times the campaign funds Gingrich has, and Gingrich’s campaign is $600,000 in debt.

In addition to Romney’s huge fundraising advantage, the political action committee supporting Romney finished 2011 with an astounding $23.6 million in the bank. Political action committees can use unlimited funds to launch negative ads against any candidate they choose, which seems to be a trend in this election cycle. The PACs supporting Romney and Paul are credited with taking down former Speaker Gingrich’s campaign in Iowa and Florida, showing how destructive and effective negative ads can be. 

With Romney’s stellar performances in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada, the other three candidates should rethink their campaigns and their ability to win this primary and the general election. Without a broad base of support, and especially without the ability to out-fundraise Romney, it’ll be nearly impossible for them to overtake his frontrunner status. 

The bickering between Gingrich and Romney needs to stop. Republican voters seemingly aren’t concerned with who has the most baggage or who has flip-flopped on the most issues. Gingrich, Paul and Santorum know they can’t win; they’ve had their moment of fame, and now it’s time for them to suspend their campaigns. 

This negative, drawn-out battle doesn’t put our party in good light; the most important item on our agenda needs to be defeating Obama in November. With unemployment over 8 percent and a lagging economy, this election will be a referendum on a failed presidency. It shouldn’t be hard to beat Obama; we just need the right candidate.

Sean Higgins is a political science and journalism double-major from Brookings, S.D. Follow him on Twitter @seanmhiggins.