Los fundamentos de una campaña importan

Charlie Cook:

Even after stipulating that the former House speaker is a very smart guy with more ideas than any three politicians you will ever find, I’m still having trouble wrapping my brain around the possibility that he [Gingrich] will be the GOP nominee. To accept that scenario, you have to buy the idea that the laws of political gravity have been suspended this year, that things that normally matter a lot aren’t going to matter this year—or, to borrow a title from a popular book, This Time Is Different.

We are asked to believe that having campaign money isn’t important. That campaign organization and infrastructure don’t matter, even in a fight for delegates spread across 50 states. That it’s OK for the entire campaign brain trust of the apparent front-runner to reside under one head of hair and between one set of ears. That it’s feasible for one person to not only devise but also implement a national strategy and tactical plans for every state.

(...) From my perspective, I believe that fundamentals still matter. Someday, someone who has raised very little money may win a presidential nomination. Someday, someone with minimal campaign organization and infrastructure may become the nominee. Someday, someone who has served in Congress with hundreds of fellow party members and dozens of former staff but who has very, very few of them endorsing him and working on his campaign may win. But we are asked to believe that all of this is going to happen in 2012.