Newt: Drop the ‘pious baloney’

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Updated: February 10, 2012 9:04AM

MANCHESTER, N.H. — When GOP White House hopeful Mitt Romney said yet again on Sunday he was not a career politician, rival Newt Gingrich slapped down his dubious claim.

“Can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney?” said Gingrich at NBC’s “Meet the Press”/Facebook debate.

Romney is a former Massachusetts governor who ran for the Senate in 1994 only to be defeated by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). Romney ran for president in 2008. If Romney had won either of those posts — or ran for re-election as governor — he would not be in a position in 2012 to brag about not being a career politician.

50 percent for Romney?

At the race track, the “win” bet pays no matter if the pony is ahead by only a nose. For Romney — especially after his eight-vote photofinish in Iowa over Santorum — his expected Tuesday GOP presidential primary win here will be subject to Talmudic interpretation.

“If Mitt Romney doesn’t get over 50 percent on Tuesday here, being a former governor of the state right next door and having a family home here, then there’s something seriously wrong,” said Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fl.). Reprising the role she took on in Iowa, she traveled to New Hampshire to continue to ding Romney — the candidate the Obama team is expecting to win the GOP nomination.

That’s classic raising the bar. Polls show Romney closing the New Hampshire primary in great shape — but not over 50 percent.

All Obama all the time

The Obama Manchester campaign office was humming on Sunday, full of volunteers. Though Obama has no major challenger on the ballot, his 2012 drive even printed “doorhangers” to remind people to vote.

In New Hampshire, the Obama team has seven offices — more than the six GOP presidential contenders. The campaign here has held over 500 events since April. The point here as in Iowa: the GOP rivals will move on — but the Obama forces will stay.