Rick Santorum Sweeps the Trifecta on Little Tuesday

COMMENTARY | Let’s look at the “horserace” for the Republican presidential nomination after Rick Santorum’s three for three sweep. Where do the final four stand?

Rick Santorum had a huge night since no one expected him to win all three races, but he did according to Yahoo News. He has big momentum heading into Michigan’s primary on February 28. Santorum is in the race for the long haul now; he has the treasure and the impetus to continue at least through Super Tuesday, March 6. Voters on that day will be favorable to Santorum. Santorum and Gingrich have yet to settle which of them is the conservative not-Romney candidate. Voters last night said they do not want a quick Romney primary win and want to vet these candidates longer.

Mitt Romney certainly had a bad night because he got swept. Going zero for three is not the sign of an inevitable nominee. Romney is certainly still the favorite to win the nomination. However, as I said in the last paragraph, Romney is going to have to slog the nomination out state by state as Barack Obama did when he stunned Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary season on the Democratic side. There are still many “Tea Party” people, social conservatives and Protestants in the GOP that do not want Romney as the nominee because of abortion, Romneycare, or the fact that he is a Mormon. The only thing good that happened for Romney is that Gingrich had a bad night. Santorum will stay in the race because of his good night and may continue to split the conservative, not-Romney vote.

Newt Gingrich had the worst night of the final four. His night was worse than expected because Santorum won all three races. Therefore, Santorum may become the “not-Romney.” Gingrich is saving his treasure for Super Tuesday, March 6, where there will be 10 contests, including his former home state of Georgia and other southern states where he could repeat his big win in South Carolina. With Super Tuesday still a month away, Gingrich can turn his campaign around with a good showing hoping that Santorum’s momentum will fade over the next month. Gingrich has wrongly been written off before only to rebound.

Ron Paul continues to quietly build up delegates in the proportionate delegate states as he did according to cnn.com in Minnesota and Colorado and is up to 20 now. Also, Paul has been campaigning hard in Maine where he is poised to pull an upset and maybe win his first contest in their caucus on Saturday.

I have said more than once that this will be a long ride. Mitt Romney could still win the nomination before August, but that it is not likely at this point.


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