I know that we're all enjoying the chaos of the GOP nomination race and hoping that Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich continue beating each other up for a while longer. But, the math is starting to look more promising to Romney after he won Ohio and 5 other states last night. But, that doesn't mean the fun is over.
Santorum has a couple reasons for staying in the race. First, he's narrowly lost Michigan and Ohio to Romney despite Mitt outspending him 4 to 1 in those states. Second, he correctly surmises that if Gingrich drops out, the conservative wing of the GOP will unite behind him. Ultimately, Santorum still looks to be heading for defeat (which is hard to feel bad about) and is going to face increasing pressure from the party to bow out but he can still do some damage.
3 comments:
more damage, please! i can't recall where i read this, but some commentator was saying that, yes, the clinton/obama primary race dragged on like this for months but the process made them both better candidates and there was very little mudslinging (nothing like the ads we're seeing now). the converse is true for this race, santorum and gingrich's hits on romney just keep weakening his position, forcing him to veer farther to the right which of course is good for us in the general election. as rachel maddow said the other night when one of the states was "too close to call"...i LOVE this!
I think the other key difference between this nomination fight and Obama-Clinton in 2008 is that the more voters see of these GOP candidates the *less* they like them. Mitt's unfavorable rating has risen from 36.4% in October to 48.2% on Sunday. As a point of comparison, McCain's had a favorable rating in the 60s in 2008.
Other than the south and the entire central part of the country, Mitt is really running a strong campaign.
Seriously, the only states he wins in the primaries are states that will be blue in the general.
Just beyond nuts.
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