Winning ‘ugly’ works for Romney
Numbers back Republican’s confidence
Mitt Romney may be winning ugly, but he’s still winning. And if that’s as good as it gets — if GOP voters never embrace him with anything more than a lukewarm shrug — the Republican presidential front-runner seems happy to accept it.
“I feel pretty darn good,” Romney professed Wednesday, after winning six of 10 states during the GOP’S Super Tuesday presidential sweepstakes.
“We’re getting the kind of support across the party that I need to become the nominee.”
The numbers support Romney’s confidence.
By triumphing on Super Tuesday in Ohio, Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia, Alaska and Idaho, Romney won more than half of the available delegates and tightened what had been a weak grip on the Re- publican nomination.
According to an unofficial count by The Associated Press, Romney emerged from Super Tuesday with 415 of the 1,144 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination at the Republican national convention in August.
Rick Santorum, Romney’s closest rival, has 176 delegates. Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker, has 105 and texas congressman Ron Paul has 47.
Armed with those delegate tallies, Romney’s campaign issued a memo to reporters on Wednesday arguing, essentially, that further resistance by Santorum and Gingrich was futile.
“Super Tuesday dramatically reduced the likelihood that any of Gov. Romney’s opponents can obtain the Republican nomination,” wrote Rich Beeson, a senior Romney aide.
Not only did Santorum and Gingrich fail to draw closer to Romney in delegates, the upcoming GOP primary calendar offers fewer opportunities to do so, Beeson says. Until the end of March, republican delegates will be awarded on a proportion alba- sis — meaning Romney can still add to his tally even if he loses. Starting in April, delegates will be awarded on a winner-take-all basis — enhancing the effect of any further Romney wins.
Even with the delegate math in Romney’s favour, Santorum’s three victories on Super Tuesday and Romney’s razor-thin win in Ohio virtually assure the Republican race will extend well into April.
Indeed, the former Massachusetts governor may have to wait awhile for another victory.
The next three major contests — in Kansas, Alabama and Mississippi — are hotbeds of Tea Party activists and evangelical Republicans who have been least enthusiastic about Romney’s candidacy. Gingrich’s southern strength in Georgia, which he won on Super Tuesday, and South Carolina suggest he will be competitive in both Alabama and Mississippi.
Santorum, meantime, has plans to spend at least $1 million on advertising in all three upcoming state contests.
Santorum’s supporters on Wednesday issued an appeal for Gingrich to drop out of the race in a bid to unite conservatives against Romney.