March 28, 2012 05:33 PM UTC

Gingrich Stays In: Makes No Sense, Unless...

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• by: Colorado Pols

Politico:

POLITICO reported late Tuesday that Gingrich, who is currently at a distant third behind Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in the delegate race, was cutting back his campaign schedule, laying off about a third of his campaign staff, and replacing his campaign manager as a part of a new “big-choice convention” strategy that would focus on the goal of getting to the GOP convention in Tampa later this year.

On defensive mode Wednesday morning, Gingrich brushed back the suggestion that his staying in the race could be a spoiler for the Republican Party, citing a recent Gallup analysis that he said showed that Romney and Santorum would gain equally if he left the contest.

Gingrich also told WTOP that until Romney hits the magic number of 1,144 delegates, people shouldn’t expect to hear a concession speech from him…

Folks, the problem with Newt Gingrich remaining in the GOP presidential primary now is as simple as looking at the results of recent primaries and caucuses won by Mitt Romney–just about all of which show that the combination of votes for Gingrich and Rick Santorum, that is GOP primary votes not for Romney, total up to more than Romney is getting.

With that in mind, it does make a kind of sense that Gingrich has no plans to exit the race until Romney clinches the nomination. After all, there’s no better way to ensure that’s what happens than for Gingrich to continue to split the anti-Romney vote.

Now if we were Republicans who, like many Republicans, are tepid at best about Romney, and view him as a woefully compromised candidate who probably can’t win–in a race characterized by unhappy, reluctant “inevitability” and lack of real choice, how should Republicans feel about the process being gamed to seal the deal for the very candidate they’re so tepid about?

And is there any remaining doubt that’s exactly what Gingrich is doing?