CHARLESTON, S.C. - They?ve been nuked on the airwaves, buried at the polls and had their obituaries written by the national political class.
Yet as voting begins in the South Carolina primary, Mitt Romney?s remaining opponents sound more determined than ever to make him wage a long and potentially costly battle for the Republican presidential nomination. Driven by a range of personal resentments and unlikely strategies, the surviving anti-Romney candidates are following a path blazed every four years by one set or another of proud underdogs: pressing on with guerrilla-style campaigns that were never allowed much hope of success.
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It?s not that they don?t recognize that the odds are stacked against them, or that they?re oblivious to Romney?s strengths. But for Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, the campaign has always been a desperate errand - a windmill-tilting exercise in ignoring the overwhelming conventional wisdom that says that they have no chance.
The result is now a race that forces Romney to keep battling opponents he has vanquished - or thought he vanquished - at other points in the race. And they can keep on fighting him as long as they have the will and money to keep going.
?If Mitt wins South Carolina, then anyone that continues on is walking dead,? said California-based GOP strategist Rob Stutzman, who worked for Romney in 2008. ?It was quite legitimate for all of them to go to South Carolina and see if they could break out. Because if one of them could win South Carolina, it would probably winnow the rest of the field out and leave more of a singular conservative for voters to coalesce behind.?
Here in the Palmetto State, Romney?s most fearsome back-from-the-grave opponent is Gingrich, who is attempting to rebound from weak finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire with a shock victory. He?s delivered an aggressive message against the frontrunner and the super PAC Winning Our Future has run a searing ad campaign attacking Romney?s business background.
Gingrich capped his week with a bravura performance in Thursday night?s debate in which he seemingly accomplished a political miracle - turning an accusation by his ex-wife that he wanted an ?open marriage? into a thunderous applause line.
Even if Romney should lose here, he would still be the strongest candidate by far for the Republican nomination, a reality his challengers recognize. But Romney has also shown his vulnerable spots over the last few days, fumbling the issue of when he?ll release his tax returns and sounding flummoxed and defensive on the debate stage.
Should Romney?s week end with a loss in South Carolina, other candidates hope it will trigger a larger reconsideration of Romney within the GOP, sowing doubts about his abilities as a candidate and giving Gingrich and Santorum a new chance to make their case.
As one die-hard Gingrich supporter put it: ?It?s a sliver of an opening.?
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