On not leaving the field

Ring-wingers who want to be heard

Note Newt's place is solidly third.

But if right wing votes were combined,

The front-runner might fall behind.

So they say to Newt, "Won't you go?"

And Newt, being Newt, answers no.

Newt's ideological kin

Are dreading a moderate's win.

They argue that it would advance

The cause if Newt gave Rick a chance

To face Mitt not in a duet.

And Newt, being Newt, still says nyet.

"When England was under the blitz,

Did Churchill say,

'Let's  call it quits'?"

Says Newt, That is not what you see

From statesmen like Churchill and me."

"Oh, please, just this once, Newt, they say.

And Newt, being Newt, says, "No way."

Calvin Trillin: Deadline Poet The Nation  4/9/2012