Posted by
Ron on Wednesday, April 04, 2012 11:25:50 AM
Mitt Romney won all the contests that there were to win on Tuesday night. His victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia moved him closer still to the magic number of 1144 delegates that will clinch the Republican nomination. The former Massachusetts Governor was helped greatly in Wisconsin by the endorsement, and the active campaigning, of popular Congressman Paul Ryan. The three primaries on Tuesday were winner take all, as are several in the upcoming weeks. This should work very much in Romney's favor, and allow him to lock up the nomination by June.
Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich could accelerate this process by dropping out, and they both should. It's time for the party to come together and start preparing for the general election battle against the President. Both Santorum and Gingrich were far behind Tuesday. Former Speaker Gingrich is now essentially a non-factor, only drawing support in the single or low-double digits. It seems that Newt is aware of the reality and is refocusing his campaign into an
effort to influence the party platform at the convention in September.
The most recent delegate count:
Romney: 652
Santorum: 259
Gingrich: 140
Paul: 67
We now have a three week break until the next round of voting. That will be April 24 and will include Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. That night could be Santorum's last stand, as he's from Pennsylvania and a loss there would likely be lights out.
We'll see.
UPDATE: The architect, Karl Rove, writing here in the The Wall Street Journal, explains why last Tuesday's three primaries were the "inflection point" in this Republican nominating process. What he means is that is where Romney essentially put Santorum away. Since Santorum was his last real challenger, Karl says it's game over. We agree.