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Salon: "The moment Mitt’s dreaded" (will anti-Romney conservatives rally around Santorum?)
Wednesday, Mar 14, 2012 4:27 AM 08:15:23 GMT-0700
The moment Mitt’s dreaded
If anti-Romney conservatives rally around Santorum after last night's wins down South, it's a one-on-one race
By Steve Kornacki
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/the_moment_mitts_been_dreading/singleton/
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks in St. Louis, Mo., Tuesday, March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Credit: AP)
First, the good news for Mitt Romney: Last night may have been a psychological disaster for him, but it wasn’t a delegate disaster.
In both Mississippi and Alabama, Romney finished in third place, but he, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were so tightly bunched that they’ll share the 90 delegates up for grabs almost evenly. That means Romney, thanks to wins in Hawaii and American Samoa that few are talking about, could still end up the night’s net delegate winner. So technically speaking, his grip on the GOP nomination may be more firm today than it was yesterday.
But it sure doesn’t feel that way, and that’s just the point.
Last night’s results are the latest demonstration of the cultural and demographic barriers that have continually thwarted Romney’s efforts to generate momentum. His success seems inversely related to the share of any given state’s electorate that evangelical Christians, blue collar and middle-class voters, and rural dwellers comprise. Even when he’s posted breakthrough victories that promised to melt these voters’ resistance, the pattern has returned in the next contest.
The moment Mitt’s dreaded
If anti-Romney conservatives rally around Santorum after last night's wins down South, it's a one-on-one race
By Steve Kornacki
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/the_moment_mitts_been_dreading/singleton/
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks in St. Louis, Mo., Tuesday, March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Credit: AP)
First, the good news for Mitt Romney: Last night may have been a psychological disaster for him, but it wasn’t a delegate disaster.
In both Mississippi and Alabama, Romney finished in third place, but he, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were so tightly bunched that they’ll share the 90 delegates up for grabs almost evenly. That means Romney, thanks to wins in Hawaii and American Samoa that few are talking about, could still end up the night’s net delegate winner. So technically speaking, his grip on the GOP nomination may be more firm today than it was yesterday.
But it sure doesn’t feel that way, and that’s just the point.
Last night’s results are the latest demonstration of the cultural and demographic barriers that have continually thwarted Romney’s efforts to generate momentum. His success seems inversely related to the share of any given state’s electorate that evangelical Christians, blue collar and middle-class voters, and rural dwellers comprise. Even when he’s posted breakthrough victories that promised to melt these voters’ resistance, the pattern has returned in the next contest.
