CONCORD, N.H. — Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have a common enemy in Mitt Romney. Both camps insist there’s not even an unspoken agreement for them to team up on the front-runner. But the political calculus for them both to do so is so obvious that it renders any kind of coordination irrelevant.
Gingrich is furious with Romney after a super PAC supporting the front-runner sunk his Iowa campaign, and is promising to drag Romney down in New Hampshire. Today, he continued his avenging crusade with a new TV ad and charges from the stump that Romney is a “Massachusetts moderate.” Santorum, meanwhile, tried to promote his electability during an afternoon town hall meeting in Concord.
The anti-Romney candidates aimed only the most mild criticisms at one another. Gingrich said Santorum was only a “junior partner” in the welfare reform of the 1990s, while Santorum said, “I led the effort” — and helpfully added that Gingrich was “one of the guys that recommended we do this.”
But despite increasing chatter that Santorum and Gingrich are in alliance with one another, interviews with insiders in both camps made clear that nothing has been agreed upon and both candidates are simply following what they see as the path of least political resistance. And in an interview with The Daily, Santorum downplayed the talk of a double-team, and said he hasn’t spoken with Gingrich personally since before the Iowa caucuses.
“Teaming up with one person or another, I don’t really see it that way,” Santorum said. “I’m not going to go out of my way to attack Speaker Gingrich. But if I disagree with something, I’ll say it, and I have said it before.”
He reiterated that he disagrees with Gingrich’s calls to subpoena federal judges, but also said “that doesn’t mean you’re unelectable.”
Just hours earlier, Santorum emphasized to his advisers that while his focus is on Romney and President Obama, there’s no agreement to hold fire on Gingrich, especially at Saturday’s debate in New Hampshire, campaign insiders said. For now, the campaign is content to ride a wave of free media attention that his surprise finish in the Iowa caucuses has provided, while quickly growing its campaign war chest for an advertising blitz in South Carolina.
“Gingrich is going after Romney for us, so we really don’t have to,” one top Santorum adviser said. “But watch out for the debate Saturday. Everything is in play.”
The reasons for Gingrich and Santorum to lay off each other are obvious. Gingrich is singularly focused on his Romney revenge, and Santorum is targeting the front-runner like never before with his eye on emerging as the sole conservative alternative to Romney. With the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future continuing to hammer Gingrich on the airwaves, Santorum needs no help in elbowing Gingrich out of his conservative space.
Santorum got further conservative boosts today when he was endorsed by CatholicVote.org, which has 600,000 members, and by prominent New Hampshire tea party activist Jerry DeLemus, who heads the umbrella group Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC.
Multiple sources close to both Santorum and Gingrich describe their relationship as close from their days in Congress together, especially in their efforts to enact welfare reform.
“Those loyalties run deep,” another Santorum adviser said.
One Gingrich campaign source confirmed that there had been informal discussions about a truce with Santorum so that the two can aim squarely at Romney. But two other top Gingrich advisers insisted such talk is overblown, and there’s no evidence any such agreement is being actively pursued.
“All Newt has said is he and Santorum’s goals are in alignment right now,” one Gingrich adviser said.
There are also obvious legal reasons to avoid any formal agreement.
“If candidates are involved, and it is a discussion about how money will be spent, it is quite possible they are running afoul of federal election coordination laws,” said Paul Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center, which advocates greater campaign finance regulation.
Meanwhile, the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future said it is trying to gauge Gingrich’s position on the rest of the field as it considers how to target its ad buys.
“We are still digesting that at this point,” spokesman Chuck Wright said: “Obviously we are totally independent of his campaign, and yet if we do something that he is absolutely unhappy with, that will not help us, either.”
