BILL PRESS: The sun shining big time in the Sunshine state from Mitt Romney tonight, with still a 15-point lead over Newt Gingrich. Joining us now for "Countdown's" coverage, news editor for Salon magazine, Steve Kornacki. Steve, short on time tonight, but let me just ask you — in Florida, Romney outspent Newt Gingrich by five to one. Is that what made the big difference?
STEVE KORNACKI: You know, I think it's a critical part of it, but I don't think it's the only part of it and I think it would be a mistake to just chalk this up to the money.
I think there was sort a winning formula that the Romney people stumbled upon here, but it's also what the Republican party establishment stumbled on. And that is that Romney took the lead in leveling all sorts of attacks on Newt Gingrich, talking about his past leadership, taking about the ethics controversies — all of the reasons why Republicans wouldn't want to nominate this guy.
That was amplified with the advertising that the Romney forces put on the air, but I think the key piece to all of this, that doesn't get talked about enough, is that this sort of opinion-shaping class of the Republican party — whether that's elected officials, commentators, pundits, the people who really hold some sway when it comes to the opinions that, sort of, rank-and-file of the party hold — that class was basically split into two camps here.
The first camp amplified further the charges that Romney was making. They basically echoed everything Romney was saying. The rest of them, though, sat on their hands while Gingrich basically got mugged for the past week, which I think set a very clear signal to me, that this a party establishment that isn't that enthusiastic about Mitt Romney, but that really — at its core — even sort of tea party-friendly members of the establishment fear the nomination of Newt Gingrich and don't trust him as a leader and they're not going to lift a finger to help him.
So, in the absence of — really — any help from the establishment, besides a little bit from Palin, and Cain and people like that at the end. You know, this is strong formula for Mitt Romney the longer this race goes on, if it really goes on at all.
PRESS: So, with the super PACs — Huntsman had his, and Newt has his, and Romney has his and there are some on the Democratic side — is this going to come down to be known as the "super PAC election" of all time?
KORNACKI: Well, yeah. I mean, so far, we are one-for-one with that, I guess. I mean, the big question, obviously, going forward now is — what's the future of the Gingrich super PAC? Because, the Gingrich super PAC —
PRESS: Is one guy.
KORNACKI: — Out in Nevada. And if this guy decides to write another $5 million check, he's still in this — he's still in this game.
PRESS: Right. All right, Steve Kornacki. Thank you so much, Steve. Sorry we have to run, but short on time.
