“The blind trust is an age-old ruse. You give a blind trust rules. You can say to a blind trust, don’t invest in properties which would be in conflict of interest or where the seller might think they’re going to get an advantage from me.”

— Mitt Romney, in a 1994 debate with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).

Romney currently defends his own investments on the grounds he can’t control money in a “blind trust.”

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“I hope not.”

— Former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS), when asked by CBS News whether he thought Newt Gingrich had a chance to be president.

NBC News has video of Newt Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond approaching
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), a surrogate for Mitt Romney, asking him
questions with a recorder open after a Gingrich event in Florida.

“This tit-for-tat continued for the next several minutes turning to
topics of Gingrich not being able to get on the ballot of his home state
of Virginia to using the Thomas System to look up legislative
records… The Romney surrogates, according to a campaign source, are
attending these events to rebut the speaker and provide another
narrative to the press. They stand in the back and talk to press when
approached, rarely speaking to voters unless the voter initiates
conversation.”

Mark Halperin: “After leaving Gingrich alone until it was too late in South Carolina, Boston focused on Newt from the start in Florida. And, like when Perry threatened the frontrunner, Team Romney has been incredibly effective tearing down Gingrich, going after him on the campaign trail by sending surrogates to crash his events, hitting him with TV and radio ads, holding daily media conference calls to drive choice themes, lining up newsmaking anti-Newt statements from people like Bob Dole and using Matt Drudge.”

The Republican presidential debate last night went very poorly for Newt
Gingrich, and one reason was his inability to land a decisive blow
against debate moderator Wolf Blitzer. The Los Angeles Times notes that
unlike past moderators, Blitzer refused to “let Gingrich off the hook”
and received some decisive support from Mitt Romney.

It is also
noteworthy that Blitzer did not begin the debate with a question of his
own, instead turning to the audience and social media for questions
throughout the debate.

Ron Paul has denied writing racially-charged pamphlets he published during the 1990s but the Washington Post reports “people close to Paul’s operations said he was deeply involved in the company that produced the newsletters, Ron Paul & Associates, and closely monitored its operations, signing off on articles and speaking to staff members virtually every day.”

Said a former secretary in his company: “It was his newsletter, and it was under his name, so he always got to see the final product… He would proof it.”

The most interesting finding in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is that the Republican presidential candidates are in net-negative territory when it comes to favorability.

First Read: “Romney was exposed in two ways in the poll – (1) he has a conservative problem staring him right in the face. That hasn’t changed. Any time base conservatives — very conservative voters, Tea Partiers, Southerners, feels there’s a viable alternative to Romney, they rally around that person; we’ve seen this phenomenon for months. And (2) The primary has done damage to Romney. He cannot afford a long primary. If this thing goes to June, that would be very problematic.”

“He’s already in a bad position. George W. Bush, John McCain, and Bob Dole were all in primary fights and ALL were a net-POSITIVE at this time in the election cycle. In the past 20 years in the poll, no one who went on to be the major party nominee of either party with a net-negative at this point – except John Kerry, and we all know how that turned out. Clearly, Romney is looking like he’s getting his momentum back, but he has fundamental problems for the general. The primary has done him no good.”

“You know you’ve had a bad debate when your own spokesman can’t spin it as a win,” Jonathan Karl points out.

When Newt Gingrich’s spokesman R.C. Hammond was asked, “Who won?” he could only respond, “It was a push.”

“Texas taxpayers were billed almost $800,000 in travel costs for a security detail to travel with Gov. Rick Perry largely on out-of-state events tied to his presidential campaign from September through November,” the Austin American Statesman reports.

The latest Florida Insider Poll by the Tampa Bay Times found hat more than three-quarters of the state’s most experienced political hands think Mitt Romney ultimately will win the GOP presidential nomination, regardless of what happens in Florida. They also overwhelmingly think Romney would be the strongest general election candidate against President Obama.

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

A new Sunshine State News Poll in Florida finds Mitt Romney leading among likely GOP primary voters with 40%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 31%, Rick Santorum at 12% and Ron Paul at 9%.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows Romney in front with 38%, followed by Gingrich at 29%, Paul at 14% and Santorum at 12%.

Meanwhile, Public Policy Polling will do nightly tracking polls from Saturday thru Monday but notes it “seems like that might not really be necessary.”

A new Suffolk University poll in Florida finds Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) leads all four potential Republican challengers in Florida’s closely watched U.S. Senate race.
 
Rep. Connie Mack polled closest, trailing by 10 points in a head-to-head matchup with Nelson, 42% to 32%, with a considerable undecided of 25 percent.

An aggressive Mitt Romney came out swinging at Newt Gingrich and didn’t stop until he had him wobbling against the ropes.  With the lead in most polls and just five days until the Florida primary, he very likely finished off his main rival. It was a superb performance by Romney. Gingrich was terrible.

That said, every moment Romney spends talking about blind trusts and his taxes is a win for Democrats. The longer the Republican primary continues, the worse his appeal is to swing voters. Romney knows this and needs to clinch the nomination as quickly as possible.

Rick Santorum had his best debate yet and scored many points against both Gingrich and Romney. Ron Paul was hilarious but largely irrelevant to the main conversation on the debate stage.

President Obama signaled an aggressive tack for his early re-election campaign in an ABC News interview.

“How much do you want it?” Diane Sawyer asked.

“Badly, because I think the country needs it,” Obama replied.

He added: “Whoever wins the Republican primary is going to be a standard bearer for a vision of the country that I don’t think reflects who we are. I’m going to fight as hard as I can with every fiber of my being to make sure that we continue on a path that I think will restore the American dream.”

Not many of Newt Gingrich’s former House GOP colleagues support his presidential bid, but the Voice of San Diego found one who does: Former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), who is in prison for conspiracy and tax evasion.

Cunningham sent a message to Gingrich: “Newt, a voice out of the past. Down but not out and
still fighting. First I do not want anything from you but have been
watching the debates. I have 80% of inmates that would vote for
you. They might not be able to but their extended families
will.”

With just 5 days to go until the Florida primary, the four remaining Republican presidential candidates face off in yet another debate tonight.

The action starts at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.

Ron Fournier: “Tonight’s is the last debate until Feb. 22, nearly a month from now,
which leaves Gingrich with one less tool in his toolbox to counter
Romney’s financial and organizational advantages. That is, unless he
wins Florida … which brings us back to the extraordinary importance of
tonight’s debate.”