Should Mitt Romney Fear Newt Gingrich?

Romney’s spooked—at least according to the consensus opinion on the GOP frontrunner’s reaction to Newt Gingrich’s late, unexpected surge. Scott Conroy at Real Clear Politics says Romney may have repeated an error from the last campaign, when he focused his attacks on John McCain and let Mike Huckabee slip in to win Iowa: “For the better part of the past three months, Romney’s brain trust in Boston has kept its focus squarely on Texas Gov. Rick Perry,” he writes. However, The Plum Line’s Jonathan Bernstein says Romney need not freak out: “[S]olid majorities of Romney’s target audience have a ‘favorable’ view of him.” And FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver offers Romney some hopel: The long wait between the New Hampshire primary and Super Tuesday will give Romney plenty of time to retool, even if Newt sweeps the early states.