Ingraham: Romney invincibility ‘dwindled’

>>> laura ingram is a fox news contributor. good to see you. let's talk about the wins for rick santorum on tuesday. did he gain anything other than bragging rights for a couple of days? did he substantially change his chances in the race?

>> i think so. look, right now the republican party is in a similar position to what the democrats were in in 2008 , right? there was all these people who thought that the clintons, hillary, specifically had the right ideas. and then we had democrats emerging like ted kennedy saying no, barack obama is the future of the party. there's this period of working things out and that's happening now. rick santorum comes out of pretty much nowhere in these three states, matt, in fact, romney didn't spend a lot of money in minnesota, missouri or colorado. but at the same time, he did have momentum coming out of florida and nevada. he couldn't translate that. so rick santorum has the ability now to say, look, give me another look, let me make the case for my solutions to you. more than just spending money to annihilate mitt romney .

>> when you say mitt romney didn't spend a lot of money in minnesota. he finished third in that state with 17% of the vote. four years ago he won the state with 41% of the vote.

>> credible point.

>> if you've been doing nothing but running for president for five or six years, it isn't good news.

>> it isn't good news. you hit on a key point, which is voter turn-out. republicans have to be careful about how they proceed here to not dampen the republican passion for defeating obama. and right now, in key contests, where mitt romney has won, and even obviously where santorum has won, the turn-out very low. considering the fervor that exists among conservatives to turn the obamas out of washington and start anew. i got to hold up something, matt, for you to look at. this is the " washington examiner "er cover. he's having a mix and mingle this afternoon. with a another of conservative supporters and would-be donors perhaps and he really, he understands, i think now, that it's time to build bridges, not just to burn down the other side.

>> do you agree with the conventional wisdom, which has seemed to be over the last couple of months, that at some point in this process, strict ideology, the conservatives wanting and needing their say in this will give way to electability? do you think there's no longer the case?

>> i think the aura and the idea of electability, the invincibility of the romney campaign has generally dwindled away, right? so that argument has become weaker, not stronger as time has gone on. but nevertheless, rick santorum has enormous amount of work to do. he has to have a real presence in ohio. he's going to try to take down romney in michigan, where the last poll shows romney winning 2-1. what he has, matt, is he has the momentum of the conservative enthusiasts behind him right now. romney does not have that. he has not been able to seal the deal yet in conservatives in romney care and what's happening with the hhs regulations, the whole debate is not helping romney .

>> in the last 30 seconds, interesting in the entire discussion, we haven't mentioned one name and that is newt gingrich . what's the deal?

>> well, look, he looked pretty defeated after florida. he, 5-1 negative advertising and it wasn't pretty in the end. nevada obviously didn't work out well for him and now people are talking about rick santorum as the conservative alternative to romney and obama. gingrich has to hope for big wins on super tuesday in the south. i think that's what he's banking on. it was not a good night for newt gingrich . worse for him than for mitt romney .

>> thanks for giving me the