First he won the Kansas caucuses over the weekend. Then he completed a winning trifecta last night, stealing Alabama and Mississippi with a vengeance.
Rick Santorum is on a roll and enjoying some unexpected momentum, after whipping Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in last night’s southern showdown.
Lately, the overly confident Romney had fooled himself into thinking that saying “y’all” and eating cheese grits would somehow give him the edge he needed to win at least one, if not both southern states. His arrogance was most prevalent yesterday afternoon during a CNN interview, when he told Wolf Blitzer that Santorum’s candidacy was of desperation and in its last days. Oh how those words must taste today for Romney, served up with a hearty helping of crow.
Here are the numbers:
ALABAMA:
✓ Rick Santorum – 35%
Newt Gingrich – 29%
Mitt Romney – 29% (slightly less votes than Gingrich)
Ron Paul – 5%
MISSISSIPPI:
✓ Rick Santorum – 33%
Newt Gingrich – 31%
Mitt Romney – 30%
Ron Paul – 4%
(Hawaii and American Samoa had not reported as of this writing)
The numbers speak volumes, but the phrase of the night came from Newt Gingrich who said of Mitt Romney: “If you’re the front runner and you keep coming in 3rd, you’re not much of a front runner!”
Although Gingrich presented a respectable 2nd place showing in both southern states and was still ahead of Romney, his campaign needed at least one southern win to keep his candidacy viable. Calls for him to step aside grew louder last night, as conservatives began making the case that Gingrich and Santorum are splitting the conservative vote, which essentially plays directly into Romney’s hands. Gingrich publicly proclaimed he is still in it to win it, but privately his campaign is reportedly considering some agreement to team up with Santorum in an effort to stop Romney. A Santorum-Gingrich tandem would likely never reach the needed 1144 delegates to secure the Republican nomination, but their union could probably prevent Romney from reaching it as well, which would be the goal. It’s a scorched earth strategy that would would pit faction against faction and set the stage for a dramatic convention floor fight at the August GOP convention.
BIG WINNER OF THE NIGHT: Rick Santorum
BIGGEST WINNER OF THE NIGHT: Barack Obama
NEXT UP: Puerto Rico on Sunday. Illinois primary next Tuesday
"His arrogance was most prevalent yesterday afternoon during a CNN interview, when he told Wolf Blitzer that Santorum's candidacy was of desperation and in its last days."Lol. Ain't that a blip. And I contend that Mitt made that ridicules comment based on what? POLLS.Despite the LONG KNOWN FACT that Southern White evangelicals (a soCON group that DOMINATES the GOP in the South) will NOT vote for a MORMON, darn near EVERY poll the media spent the last 5-7 days touting showed Santorum in THIRD place, with either a 2-way tie between Romney AND Gingrich. OR a 3-way close race, with Romney and Gingrich battling for 1st and 2nd place. Santoum was always_ALWAYS 3rd.So let's recap: Prior to the actual outcome last night, THE POLLS for Mississippi and Alabama (two of the most highly Southern white evangelical populated states) repeatedly indicated that the race was between a flip-flopping MORMON and a bloviating Serial adulterer…with Santorum running 3rd. And Mitt believed those POLLS!?!….lolI have to say I gotta kick outta watching John King et al on CNN trying their best to explain how the results ended up being the results when even CNN's so-called "Exit-polling" date (a worthless indicator if ever I saw one) suggested a supposedly "strong night" for Romney. In fact, as it became clearer and clearer that Santorum was probably going to have good night, One CNN host actually admitted: "this ISN'T the narrative we were expecting."HAH. Amazing…smh.
<span><span><span>Two sidenotes: 1st: CNN reported that GOP voter turnout was slightly higher in only ONE of the 2 states, due to higher evangelical turnout. But turnout in the other state was low despite a high evangelical turnout. 2nd: Yesterday CNN and MSNBC led with a CBS/NYTimes poll indicating that the President's job approval had dropped 9 points, to 41% (down from 50% just a few days ago). The emerging MEDIA narrative was that the drop was probably due to rising gas prices. It seems several other major polls indicated the President's job approval STILL at 50% so the CBS/NYTimes poll immediately came under scrutiny and got some real pushback. By this morning MSNBC reported that the CBS/NYTimes poll (the poll they and CNN so confidently touted just yesterday) may in fact have been an "outlier." Let me just say that while I"m not pleased with how the President has, IMO, failed thus far to really get out there and shape the "rising-gas-prices" narratve, I'm glad he isn't quick to react to polls. Polls are, IMO, mostly worhtless. </span></span></span><span><span><span></span></span></span><span><span><span>GOP </span><span>related *BREAKING* News…. Read: "Rush Limbaugh Syndicator Suspends National Ads For Two Weeks" http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/12/443195/…</span></span></span>
<span>A few Right-wing reax….. Erick Erickson: "Not Closing the Deal" This morning you were going to read a post from me saying Mitt Romney was definitely now the nominee and it was time for Santorum and Gingrich to drop out. The post was predicated on late polling and early corresponding exit polling from yesterday showing that Mitt Romney won Mississippi. He had finally won in the south. […] Read: http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/03/14/not-clos…</span><span> Hotair: "Why evangelicals reject Romney"</span><span></span><span>Even a slight decrease in the evangelical turnout could be hugely problematic, says Bauer, who predicts 2012 will be a “base election” and notes that if even 1 to 3 percent of voters stay home on Election Day that could “throw one state or another in the wrong column.” […] </span><span></span><span></span><span>Read: http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2012/03/14/w…</span><span></span><span></span><span>FreeRepublic: "Santorum wins Mississippi, Alabama Republican primaries,"</span><span></span><span>Commenter: "Newt looks like an dolt standing next to his wife while she talks. No WAY can he win no matter what! He should endorse Santorum." </span><span></span><span>Read: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2858738/…</span>
A few more Right-wing reaxs…NRO Post-Primary Symposium: "Santorums Big Night"Hunter Baker:Romney ended up getting swept in his self-proclaimed “away” games. The losses hurt because of expectations that are hard for Romney’s team to manage. Some observers saw the potential in poll numbers for Romney to win these southern states and hungered for a decisive blow that could have freed Romney to turn his attention to President Obama full-time. A couple of third-place finishes are a deflating alternative. Never mind that the three top candidates were tightly clustered in both races. There’s only one winner in the public mind. That’s the surging Rick Santorum.Worse for Romney is that just as his effort demonstrates some weakness, many suspect Santorum’s campaign is just getting geared up — and staffed up. […]Jay Cost:A half century ago, it would have been utterly unthinkable for Alabama or Mississippi to vote for a Catholic Republican, yet that is precisely what they did on Tuesday. And while one might be tempted to respond that they had no Protestants on the ballot down there last night (except Ron Paul), I’d point out that in 1960 a plurality of electors in Alabama and Mississippi were “unpledged” rather than for JFK or Nixon. […]Charlotte Hayes:What does one make of voters who say in the exit polls that they think Mitt Romney is the candidate most likely to beat Barack Obama, as half did last night, and then pull the lever for Rick Santorum? […]Read: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/293429/san…
Well well what a tangled web we weave. This race is a hot mess but in a good way. I was watching last nights results like it was a tv movie. The faces of the Republican commenters on CNN said it all even though they tried to hold back their real feelings. Republicans had four years to campaign against Obama and this is the best they can do?
<span>Charlotte Hayes: What does one make of voters who say in the exit polls that they think Mitt Romney is the candidate most likely to beat Barack Obama, as half did last night, and then pull the lever for Rick Santorum? […] </span>Thanks for this Truth. That is the line of the day! 😀
You're quite Welcomed BD 😉 !