Romney vs. Gingrich may be sapping GOP’s chances to beat Obama

While Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich continue to bash each other, maybe Rick Santorum and Ron Paul are onto something.

Maybe the bickering between the two frontrunners has overshadowed the big issues (jobs and the economy) and the big prize (beating Barack Obama) to an extent that should alarm Republican Party officials.

For example, according to Politico, in Thursday night’s hard-hitting debate, the candidates only said Barack Obama’s name four times in the first hour. Romney didn’t say it until one hour and 15 minutes into the debate, and only after Rick Santorum challenged him on Romneycare.

In the Tampa Bay Times, the Florida Insider Poll – an intermittent survey of the state’s top 100 politicos – found that the shifting sands of the GOP campaign season, and the increasingly bitter battle between Romney and Gingrich has many Sunshine State conservatives rather dejected. And some Democrats are suddenly buoyant.

The latest survey, conducted Wednesday and Thursday, included 41 Democrats, 57 Republicans, and six unaffiliated voters.

The poll found overwhelming consensus on several questions:

• More than three-quarters think Romney ultimately will win the GOP nomination, regardless of what happens in the Florida primary.

• Nearly 9 out of 10 surveyed think Romney would be the strongest general election candidate against President Barack Obama.

• And in a sign of the toll the presidential primary has taken on the field, more than 7 in 10 think Obama will be re-elected in November — including half of the Republican insiders and every Democrat.

Adam Smith, who writes the Insider Poll blog wrote this:

“Our periodic Florida Insider Poll is a measure of conventional wisdom among political elites — fundraisers, campaign operatives, lobbyists and the like — and is not scientific. Romney has much of Florida’s Republican political establishment in his corner, so it’s not surprising most insiders view him as the strongest general election candidate.

“What is striking is the growing pessimism among the Republican insiders about beating Obama.

“The last time we asked for general election predictions, in November, 9 percent of Democrats said Obama would lose, and 29 percent of Republicans said Obama will win. Now, 100 percent of Democrats predict a second term for Obama and 49 percent of Republicans do.