No question Mitt Romney blundered in saying he’s “not concerned about the very poor,” but he might have just stumbled into a tactical win by tapping into working class resentment. It’s the same dynamic that garners standing ovations for Newt Gingrich’s “food stamp president” line against Obama.

Romney was trying to say the middle class deserves his focus because government is already taking care of the poor. That’s a message that resonates with middle income voters. Blaming the poor for draining government resources at their expense has long been a marketable argument to many working class folks.

Watching Romney get hammered by the media for a remark they appreciate could rally those in the middle of the pay scale to his side.

Sadly, Mitt spoke for a lot of Americans, maybe most. There’s not much evidence in our government, society or culture to suggest that we are substantively “concerned about the very poor.”

By insinuating that Mitt is somehow anti-religion is Newt Gingrich hoping to tap into evangelical discomfort with Romney’s Mormonism? As campaigning for the Florida primary ended Gingrich signaled this new front in his feud with Romney.

Just as Gingrich calling Obama a “food-stamp President” sounded like a dog whistle to racists, his veiled talking points on religion seem aimed at the anti-Mormon vote.

In an interview on CBS Monday morning, Gingrich accused Romney of an “attack on Christianity,” claiming that “Romneycare has tax-paid abortions” and supported abortion-provider Planned Parenthood. He repeated this refrain throughout the day, adding charges that Romney’s Massachusetts health care law conducted a “war on Catholics” and claimed that the former governor denied Kosher food to the elderly poor in Jewish retirement homes.

Romney’s Mormon faith has so far not been an obvious factor in the campaign, but that might be due to the lack of any suggestion by his foes that it should matter. With evangelical-rich southern states around the corner on the primary calendar, Gingrich is suddenly eager to raise religious issues against Romney.

Here is a typical exchange Gingrich had with a CNN reporter on Monday:

You want a war on the Catholic Church by Obama? Guess what: Romney refused to allow Catholic hospitals to have conscience in their dealing with certain circumstances. … Romney cut off kosher food to elderly Jews on Medicaid. Both of them have the same lack of concern for religious liberty.

In other exchanges with journalists Gingrich punctuated the attack on Romney by saying Americans deserve a “government that respects our religions.”

Conservatives must be thinking, Who Now? There is time left for an alternative to Mitt the “Massachusetts Moderate,” who spent this entire campaign dissing the GOP right wing.

State filing deadlines for a majority of the delegates needed to win are yet to pass.

Sarah Palin is the only GOPer with the fame and juice to enter remaining state races and potentially deny Mitt Romney the nominating majority before the Tampa convention this summer. (Aided, of course, by the likelihood that Ron Paul will amass enough delegates to be an interrupting factor.)

No one can enter the race at this late date and win the nomination outright, but the delegate math affords a chance for someone to scramble the GOP’s national convention.

For weeks Palin has clearly displayed her disdain for Romney, serving as a paid contributor for the Fox News Channel. Time to put up or shut up, ex-Gov. Palin.

The conservative chair in this race is empty – and power abhors a vacuum.

Romney proved something in Florida. He’s all about psychological warfare, and his team knows how to wage it. Mitt’s operatives sized up the profile of their foe, Newt Gingrich, found his hot buttons and jammed them until he squealed like a stuck pig.

Barack Obama might be a savvier adversary, but he’s got his buttons too. As evidenced by whatever happened between the President and AZ Gov. Jan Brewer, he’s got a prickly side. Some might even call it arrogance.

In Florida, Romney’s camp displayed a viciously effective ability to target an opponent’s arrogance and tweak it to self-destructing distraction.

It’s a lesson the Obama team should well learn.

The strategy is simply: Needle your foe with attacks, no matter how silly, irrelevant or unfounded, until he reacts. Then call him a whiner for complaining, making him look ridiculous.

Romney proved in Florida he has no intention of running a campaign about himself, but instead he’ll mount an assault on the opposition that forces a retort, giving him control of the agenda.

Obama must not let this happen. Stay on offense. My hunch is that he should go negative early, perhaps now and by name in a massive TV ad buy, putting Romney on defense as soon as possible – and keep him there for the next ten months.

Sometimes in politics powder kept dry can never be lit.

ORLANDO — In the closing days of the Florida primary race it’s clear that Romney aims to run up the score and finish off Newt Gingrich with such a humiliating defeat that the former House speaker is no longer a factor.

I found as many as six Romney ads per TV newscast in my sampling of local broadcasts around the state, overwhelming Newt’s three or fewer spots. While about one-third of Gingrich’s ads positively presented his background, all of Romney’s ads blasted Newt — none that I saw were positive. This was the political equivalent of a carpet bombing, Dresden-style.

The Romney forces have spent more than $17 million on Florida television commercials, dwarfing Gingrich’s $5 million.

Even after polls clearly showed Romney pulling comfortably ahead his team kept the pedal on the metal, spending more money on attack ads (including a brand new TV spot featuring Gingrich’s history of ethics violations). And in appearances over the weekend the candidate gloated over Gingrich’s poor debate showing in Florida …

The Romney camp obviously wants Gingrich to go away. While some Republicans say it wouldn’t hurt for the frontrunner to have a sparring partner going forward in order stay in the news, the fear among Mitt’s handlers is that the personal animosity between the hopefuls is damaging the GOP brand for the general election.

Also, Gingrich’s reputation for comebacks motivated the Romney campaign to stay negative in Florida, just in case these closing-days polls are missing something.

ORLANDO — Are Rick Santorum and Sarah Palin fueling yet another Gingrich rise from the dead? In a week of bad news for Newt in Florida he garners hope with a second Palin semi-endorsement plus the sudden departure of Santorum from the state.

Local TV and newspapers led their campaign coverage with the former Pennsylvania senator’s decision to give up on Florida. As Santorum leaning voters watched this coverage you have to wonder what they think. My guess is they won’t waste their votes on a candidate who abandoned the state. Further, my guess is that they’ll back Gingrich as the only non-Romney, non-Paul left in the race.

It’s not the same as Rick Perry quitting before the South Carolina primary and endorsing Gingrich, but it’s darn close.

Florida then becomes a test. Will a consolidated conservative voting bloc behind Gingrich challenge Romney? Might happen.

And once again, Sarah Palin, comes to Newt’s rescue as she did shortly before the South Carolina primary …

Palin was referring to conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan as “hypocritical” for her scathing description of Gingrich as “an angry little attack muffin.” Palin: “That’s the typical hypocrisy stuff in the media that I’ve lived with over a couple of decades in the political arena.”

From my Florida GOP debate notebook …

One-word review: Mitt rises; Newt crashes; Rick steady; Ron amusing

• Call it Mitt’s Lunar Eclipse – blasting Gingrich Moonbase idea could be tonight’s winning moment
• Newt shrinking? That giant sucking sound is the GOP conservative vacuum opening up again
• Newt so flustered tonight he forgot to say, “Massachusetts moderate”
• Been feeling kinda creepy ever since Santorum said “dilly-dally”
• Thank heavens nobody can run Ron Paul out this race. Only one who doesn’t need a laugh track
• Here we go, the Who-Can-Kill-Castro-First segment
• Callista Gingrich must be a European socialist, she plays French horn
• Rick, if the wife is back home, why can’t she print out your tax return?
• Did Newt just praise all three of HIS wives, or his rivals’ wives?
• Wow Ron, Your wife is “the mother of five of our children” — there are others?
• Mitt: Some of my best lawn workers are Hispanic
• Mitt says health care “not worth getting angry about.” So, you uninsured folks just get over it
• Don’t look so confused Rick. Mitt is just speaking French again
• Ever get the feeling Newt is just running to promote his web sites? Next up, his eHarmony profile
• Weirdest line of the night: Wolf said, “I look forward to seeing your medical records.”
• Now it’s medical records to be released. What about Cable TV bills?
• GOP debaters agree: Lower Romney’s Taxes
• Guess Mitt also keeps his TV ads in a blind trust
• Are blind trustees covered by Romneycare?
• Newt and Mitt tonight: Beavis or Butt-Head, take your pick
• Sad state of affairs for GOP when Santorum becomes the adult in the room
• If we can’t cut federal spending let’s at least slow the alarming rise of lame jokes about Ron Paul’s suit
• Grandmother debate trumped Santorum playing Mom card. Third-placers just can’t catch a break
• Still stuck on Mitt slamming coyotes. They have grandmothers too
• Mitt would put coyotes on the Moon. But would they howl at Earth?
• Did Newt just accuse Mitt of kicking grandmothers? It’s getting ugly
• Mitt soft on our national grandmother crisis
• Newt gets bitch slapped, then hands Mitt the other glove for another round
• Newt opposes self-deportation, favors self-medication
• Thanks Rick, now go home and finish your tax return
• Least (if ever) mentioned word tonight: JOBS
• Poor Newt didn’t even make it to one-week wonder. South Carolina just 5 days ago
• Mitt can change chairs in Washington, he sells them at Staples
• Newt never recovered from Mitt “firing” him for goofy moon colony plan