Why are we running negative ads against Santorum in Michigan?

[economics102]

This is not a "I know better than everyone and the campaign is wrong!" post. Just genuinely curious whether this is the right strategy.

I guess more to the point, why do we want to help Romney win Michigan? If we benefit from a divided field, shouldn't we be happy that Santorum is giving Romney a run for his money?

I assume the theory is, the sooner we weaken Santorum, the sooner people might start looking back towards Ron Paul as the alternative anti-Romney. But it seems to me that what will instead happen is the media will just continue making it Santorum vs. Romney just with Romney leading instead of Santorum. So in the event we don't succeed at shifting the narrative away from Santorum vs. Romney, wouldn't we rather have that narrative as it is right now with Santorum leading in all the polls?

To underscore my point, here's how politico writes about Paul's latest ad:

With the Texas congressman fading as a force in primaries and caucuses, it may turn out that Paul's most impactful contribution to the 2012 cycle is the series of attack ads he's run criticizing Mitt Romney's opponents from the right.

[Sematary]

Do you have a link to the ad? I haven't seen it. Or is it the fake conservative ad they are running that politico is writing about?

[economics102]

Do you have a link to the ad? I haven't seen it. Or is it the fake conservative ad they are running that politico is writing about?

This one:

[Oddone]

We can't have Santorum running away with it. We have to knock him down a peg or two to keep the states won more spread out.

[joshnorris14]

I'm thinking Ron Paul wants the delegates out of the Dearborn/Grand Rapids areas.

[bluesc]

I didn't even know we had a new ad.

If they are targeting Santorum in Michigan, it's clear they want him gone ASAP. Santorum pretty much needs to win Michigan or Ohio to remain relevant in the race and knock Romney down even further.

It's a shame they only have just over $1M on hand. This move really is a little desperate.

[tuggy24g]

Well for one thing is that Santorum is either top of second in every poll that I have seen in every state. So it is no wonder we are running negative ads all over the place against him. We need to shoot his momentum down fast so we can take over as being the anti Romney!

[bbwarfield]

came out early this morning

[rpwi]

During the debates, they love to talk about the negative ads the candidates have aired against each other recently. Surprisingly, Romney hasn't really issued that many negative ads against Santorum, which means Ron's ad could be a talking point. By inserting an ad into one of the two states that has an upcoming contest, this is a good tactic to get speaking time during the debate and shift the focus into Ron friendly issues. Have to stop after the debate though...Michigan is a huge waste (other than momentum). Many other states are much better prospects.

[amabala]

This is not a "I know better than everyone and the campaign is wrong!" post. Just genuinely curious whether this is the right strategy.

I guess more to the point, why do we want to help Romney win Michigan? If we benefit from a divided field, shouldn't we be happy that Santorum is giving Romney a run for his money?

I assume the theory is, the sooner we weaken Santorum, the sooner people might start looking back towards Ron Paul as the alternative anti-Romney. But it seems to me that what will instead happen is the media will just continue making it Santorum vs. Romney just with Romney leading instead of Santorum. So in the event we don't succeed at shifting the narrative away from Santorum vs. Romney, wouldn't we rather have that narrative as it is right now with Santorum leading in all the polls?

To underscore my point, here's how politico writes about Paul's latest ad:

Screw politico. The whole nation is aware of Romney's record and his flip flops. Ron Paul would be wasting ad money directly attacking Romney at this point. It would be like preaching to the choir.

The ads against Santorum are needed to crush the illusion of his "so called" conservatism. Good play IMO.

Screw politico.

Telling the truth is not negative!!!