[FerociousRabbit]

Hmmm... Santorum has a shot at beating Romney in Missouri. Why? Because Newt isn’t on the ballot. The conservative vote is split between Santorum and Gingrich. If one were to drop out then Romney wouldn’t stand a chance at getting the nomination.

[TomGuy]

If one were to drop out then Romney wouldn’t stand a chance at getting the nomination.

In both FL and NV, Romney got more than the combo of Gingrich+Santorum.

Maybe a single conservative in the race might be better, but currently, the combined votes for the two conservatives are not even getting par with Romney.

NV = Santorum 10%, Gingrich 21% = 31%
Romney 50%

FL = Santorum 13%, Gingrich 32% = 45%
Romney 46%

==

Ron Paul is the fly-in-the-ointment. If he dropped out, would his supporters go to Romney, to the conservative or to the Libertarian Party?

[napscoordinator]

The conservative vote is split between Santorum and Gingrich.

Maybe so but neither of them would have won Florida, NH, Nevada regardless of one of them dropping out. Santorum won Iowa and Newt won SC and that is it. Had Newt not been in NH, Santorum STILL would not have won. Had Santorum not been on the ballot in FL or Nevada, Newt STILL would not have won. They are going for the same votes but together they are not even getting a majority. Something is seriously wrong with Americans.

[Norseman]

>>Hmmm... Santorum has a shot at beating Romney in Missouri. Why? Because Newt isn’t on the ballot. The conservative vote is split between Santorum and Gingrich. If one were to drop out then Romney wouldn’t stand a chance at getting the nomination.<<

The point of the article is that Romney does stand a chance if Santorum were to drop out, because so many already dislike Gingrich, particularly women.

This is why Missouri’s vote could be important even though it won’t result in any delegates; it will show just how strong Santorum could be against Romney if Gingrich were to get out of the way, at least in one southern state.