Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, battling for Georgia’s 76 GOP delegates, brought their cases directly to metro Atlanta voters Thursday, just five days before the Super Tuesday vote. Mitt Romney, whom polls show running third in the state behind Gingrich and Santorum, reached out to Georgia voters through a surrogate: his wife, Ann.
For the most part, both Gingrich and Santorum stuck to economic themes. Gingrich touted his promise to lower gas prices to $2.50 a gallon by boosting domestic oil production; Santorum emphasized his proposals to reduce regulations and taxes on businesses, particularly manufacturing.
Gingrich’s pitch was crafted to achieve a double aim: appealing to Georgians as one of them and inserting himself in the national conversation with President Barack Obama, in particular on gas prices.
Opening a Cherokee County headquarters in Woodstock, the former Georgia congressman and U.S. House speaker showed off the new sticker on his bus advertising $2.50 gas. Gingrich said he derived the number from asking oil industry experts what is the lowest price at which it would still be economical for them to drill aggressively in the United States.
Starting his day in Dalton, Santorum, too, sought to establish a direct bond with his listeners.
“I grew up in a different mill town,” he told a crowd of more than 250 in the self-described carpet capital of the world. The former Pennsylvania senator used the appearance to highlight his proposals to use tax cuts to spur American manufacturing.
Later, in an appearance before about 100 supporters in a hangar at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, Santorum revisited economic themes, vowing that, as president, he would “create opportunity here in this country.”
“That’s the key to success of America, is to have a belief in free people,” Santorum said.
Businesses are “looking for some confidence that the government isn’t going to pile up more regulations,” he said.
Both Gingrich and Santorum largely refrained from attacking the other. Gingrich directed his fire at Obama, while Santorum targeted Romney, suggesting that the national race is a two-man contest between him and the former Massachusetts governor.
With Romney campaigning in North Dakota and Idaho, Ann Romney sought to humanize a candidate known for utterances that can make him seem out of touch with the challenges of the middle class. For starters, she acknowledged to an overflow crowd at the Smokejack Southern Grill & BBQ in Alpharetta that she knows her husband has an image problem.
“How he measures his success is not how most people would see it,” she said, acknowledging her family has had great “worldly success.” “[But] our heart is with family and things that matter the most.”
Later, Romney campaign officials said that the former Massachusetts governor will campaign in Georgia before Tuesday’s primary.
After weeks dominated by discussion of social issues such as contraception, those who attended Thursday’s campaign events seemed to welcome the renewed focus on economic issues.
“I think Newt’s back on message right now talking about the economy and gas prices,” 68-year-old Bobby Warren of Marietta said at the candidate’s Woodstock event.
Sizing up Santorum at the DeKalb airport, Curtis Hamby of Canton said he’s still looking for a candidate who “is going to make the best case to correct the economy and the budget.”
At Ann Romney’s appearance in Alpharetta, Ken Huffman said he plans to vote for Romney because of his business acumen.
“Small businesses need somebody leading the country who can produce the support staff and bring in the right people [for business],” said Huffman, an accountant who lives in Roswell.
Assessing the state of the race in Georgia, Santorum acknowledged the difficulty of defeating Gingrich in the state he once represented. Still, he said he believes he can shock the political world Tuesday.
“There will be no bigger surprise than if on Super Tuesday, Rick Santorum is the winner of the Georgia primary,” Santorum said.
Gingrich, opening the day on his onetime home turf at a Cobb County Chamber of Commerce breakfast, sought to rebut the notion that Georgia will be his swan song.
“I have to win Georgia, I think, to be credible in the race,” he said. “But if I win Georgia, the following week we go to Alabama and Mississippi, and I think I’ll win both of those and we have a good opportunity to win in Kansas.”
For her part, Ann Romney said her husband’s team hasn’t ceded Georgia. “We recognize this is Newt’s home base, but we’re fighting for every delegate we can get,” she said.
Kennesaw State University political scientist Kerwin Swint, a former Republican strategist, said all three candidates have something to win — and lose — in Georgia.
Gingrich, simply, must win — as he himself has acknowledged, Swint noted. But Romney, too, has a certain bar to clear.
“I don’t think the Romney people think they can win [Georgia] at this point, but they damn sure don’t want to come in third in too many places, and they damn sure don’t want to be below 20 percent.”
A candidate must get at least 20 percent of the statewide vote to qualify for a proportional share of the 31 delegates that will be awarded on an at-large basis. Forty-two delegates will be awarded based on the vote in each of the state’s 14 congressional districts. The final three of the state’s 76 delegates are the state’s two members of the Republican National Committee and state party Chairwoman Sue Everhart, who will be pledged to the candidate who gets the highest vote statewide.
As for Santorum, Swint said, he “probably doesn’t expect to win here, but he probably does expect to come in second. Considering it’s Georgia, that’s probably enough for him.”
-- Staff writers Katie Leslie and Craig Schneider contributed to this article.
About the Author
