Newt popular among Republicans, but is he electable?

"I don't claim to be the perfect candidate,' says Newt Gingrich. "I just claim to be more conservative than Mitt Romney, and more electable than anybody else."

I'll buy the part about being more conservative than Romney. Not sure how to parse that second part, though. More electable than anybody other than Romney? Maybe. But the facts just don't fit the alternative reading of the sentence.

Gingrich just isn't all that electable- and is certainly less so than Romney is. While even Romney trails the president in most polls,  Gingrich consistently trails Mr. Obama in all of them- and by larger numbers.

Gingrich has that in common with the rest of the Republican field, by the way.  Electability is not the argument Gingrich- or any of the other candidates-should be trying to make when comparing himself with Romney.

Mr. Newt is the candidate viewed most favorably by the Republican rank-and-file. But the electorate as a whole? Not so much.

If the Republican primary turns into a popularity contest, Gingrich should do quite well. But if Republicans want to defeat Barack Obama, by any objective measurement, Romney is the man.

HT: Drudge