From Birmingham, Alabama -
One week ago, Newt Gingrich's campaign put out a post-Super Tuesday schedule which included two days of election events in Kansas. But the day after his win in Georgia, Gingrich scrapped that trip in order to focus on Alabama and Mississippi.
That made me wonder just a bit about Gingrich's schedule for the rest of this week, when his campaign notified reporters that there would be two days of campaign events on Wednesday and Thursday in the state of Illinois, which votes one week from today.
Gingrich's trip to the Land of Lincoln includes one $500 per person minimum contribution fund raiser in Barrington Hills, Illinois, described online as an "equestrian community" to the north and west of Chicago.
In other words, it's not Joliet or Cicero.
Before Gingrich can start thinking about a March trip to the Chicago area, he needs to do well in Alabama and Mississippi. Late polls indicate Gingrich is in the mix, but one has to wonder what might happen if the former Speaker is unable to notch any victories on Tuesday night.
Gingrich warmed up for primary day with only two events, both of them forums where he shared the spotlight with Rick Santorum.
In Biloxi, Mississippi at the Gulf Coast Energy Summit, Gingrich blasted the Obama Administration for its energy policies, accusing the President of doing nothing to ease rising gasoline prices.
"These people are ideologically committed to a fantasy land," Gingrich said, "and if you read the President's energy speeches, he is in Cloud-Cuckoo Land."
The line netted a good cheer from several hundred people gathered for the event.
In his last event before the polls opened, Gingrich drew cheers at an Alabama Republican Party event in Birmingham, as he couldn't resist reminding the crowd that he is from next door Georgia - and someone else named Mitt Romney is not.
This morning when I had grits I thought it was a very normal thing to do," Gingrich said to laughter, taking yet another "grits" jab at Romney, who earlier in the day was dropping his "g's" and adding a southern lilt to a few of his words during an event in Mobile.
Will the "Southerner" angle be the deciding factor for Gingrich? Or have enough Yankees moved into Alabama and Mississippi to pave the way for a victory by Romney tonight?
One thing is clear - two losses by Gingrich could spell deep trouble for his campaign, no matter what he says about staying in the race all the way to the GOP convention.
