Mitt Romney feels as if he’s back in the game after dual wins over the weekend. But Rick Santorum is cautioning Romney to temper celebration of his recent moral victories.
Romney won Maine’s caucus with 39% of the vote on Saturday, followed by Ron Paul with 36%. Santorum and Newt Gingrich did not campaign in Maine, but received 18% and 6% respectively. Romney also won the non-binding presidential straw poll at the weekend Conservative Political Action Committee meeting (CPAC) with 38% of the vote, besting Santorum who finished in 2nd place with 31%.
The Romney campaign believed he needed a win, albeit a small one, so as to stop the bleeding and present the perception that he is still the front-runner. But Rick Santorum is crying foul and has suggested that Romney’s campaign may have used campaign cash to secure some of those votes.
“Campaigns recruit people, provide free tickets, they come and vote and then leave,” he said, adding “We didn’t do that, we don’t do that. I don’t try to rig straw polls.”
Santorum downplayed Romney’s small win in Maine as well. “That was not a place we were going to compete,” Santorum said. “I’m out here in California, and we’ll be in Washington, and Idaho, North Dakota, Michigan. We’re going to spend a lot of time in Michigan and Arizona, and those are up next. And that’s where we’re really been focusing on.”
1144 delegates are needed to secure the Republican nomination. All 4 of the remaining candidates, including Romney, are very far from reaching that goal. The current delegate count is as follows:
MITT ROMNEY – 105
RICK SANTORUM – 71
NEWT GINGRICH – 29
RON PAUL – 18
"Santorum downplayed Romney's small win in Maine as well."And well it should be played down. A little over 5,000 people participated in the GOP caucuses in Maine this year (ONLY about 100 more voters than in 2008). And of that amount, Romney reportedly won by at least 600 FEWER votes than he recieved in 2008. By now everybody knows that Straw polls are a complete joke. Just ask that stellar EX-candidate, and winner of this year's Iowa GOP Straw Poll, Michelle Bachmann.Simply put: Romney remains about as weak a front-runner as there's ever been, in quite some years, and no amount of money or spin changes that fact.