Posted on 02/28/2012 7:48:25 PM PST by Red Steel
DETROIT, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Mitt Romney was a double winner Tuesday, capturing the Michigan and Arizona Republican presidential primaries, results showed.
The Detroit Free Press declared Romney the victor over his GOP rivals in Michigan.
With about 74 percent of the precincts counted, Romney had 317,258 votes (41 percent) to Rick Santorum's 286,530 (37 percent), results posted by the Free Press showed. Ron Paul was third with 88,521 votes (12 percent) and Newt Gingrich followed with 50,726 votes (7 percent). Another 2 percent voted "uncommitted" and a handful of votes went to several other Republicans who are no longer contenders.
CNN called Romney the winner in Arizona. With 71 percent of the vote counted, Romney had 191,182 votes (48 percent) to Santorum's 101,232 votes (25 percent). Gingrich was third with 65,182 votes (16 percent), with Paul bringing up the rear with 33,505 votes (8 percent).
Exit polls in the two states Tuesday had indicated electability was the top priority among Republican primary voters.
Thirty-three percent of Michigan voters said beating President Obama is the top priority when selecting a GOP nominee, while 38 percent of voters in Arizona said the same, CBS News exit polls indicated.
Romney and Santorum slashed at each other ahead of the Michigan primary, which was too close to call. The contest in his home state is seen as crucial to Romney and his claim of the front-runner's mantle.
Despite the closeness of the Michigan race, the Post said Romney was expected to win about three times as many convention delegates as Santorum Tuesday. Arizona is a winner-take-all primary. Michigan's 30 delegates are allotted proportionately to the primary winner in each of the state's 14 congressional districts. Arizona's winner picks up all of its 29 delegates.
The Washington Post said Romney was expected to garner 45 delegates from both contests, with Santorum picking up about 15.
Gingrich and Paul were not expected to win any delegates, and did not seriously campaign in the two states.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, have been shooting fireballs at each other in recent days.
Romney blasted Santorum's use of robocalls urging Democrats, who can vote GOP in Michigan, to vote for Santorum.
"I know why [President] Obama doesn't want me to face him but I just think it's outrageous and a terrible dirty trick at the last hour, by the way, late in the afternoon on the day before the election, maybe hoping no one would notice, they start sending out calls to Democrats, union members telling them to go into the Republican primary and vote against Mitt Romney," Romney told Fox News.
"This is a new low for his campaign and that's saying something," he added.
Santorum told Fox News Monday night he's just trying to attract the Democratic voters he'll need in November.
"When he runs a robocall of my voice from four years ago saying good things about him, that's not a low moment, and when I run a call basically saying, calling Democrats that are eligible to vote here, to vote for us, that's a low?" he said.
I’m not voting for another RINO shoved down our throats by RINOs.
His speech was pretty good
:(
HEY! CNN! It ain’t over until 100% of the votes are counted.
Well, the anti-Santorum rhetoric worked it’s magic.
Congrats to those who slammed Santorum non-stop for the last few weeks.
Romney thanks you all very much.
I’m so sick and tired of being in the party that shoots itself in the foot over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... to infinity.
Santorum likes those democrat voters so much, I expect him to go Spector in the next couple of days.
I agree with you!!!! Let Obama win again and then “The Establishment” can be blamed for all that he does wrong to this country!!! Sick of this!!!
.....back to heavy drinking I guess.
“I’m not voting for another RINO shoved down our throats by RINOs.”
Emperor Obama Thanks you for your support. All he needs is one more SCOTUS pick!
You nailed it. Still, let's not give up. How can we put out the word that we want another candidate to get in the race since Romney won Michigan and true conservatives don't think he's electable.
If they could do it, why can't we?
One week from today, we are going to see what needs to be done going forward.
Total votes so far:
ROMNEY 1,660,487
GINGRICH 960,302
SANTORUM 850,228
PAUL 439,564
It looks like a straight-up Romney nomination win is going to be VERY difficult!
Yeah, and Newt will go Scozzafava.
Have the absentee ballots been counted yet? If not, that might reverse the outcome. p.s. glad to see the site back on.
Thank you! We CAN stop this travesty, we CAN stay free.
Bummer...but predictable. :(
What do you mean ‘back’? How about ‘continued’?!! (What else was there to do all day with FR down????)
Yes, exactly. Santorum is way better than Romney. He may not be perfect, but he isn’t a RINO like Romney.
The problem is that Newt and Santorum are still splitting up the anti-Willard vote.
Now, still, Romney is head and shoulders above Obama. We can NOT afford 4 more years of Obama.
Dang it. Once again our state has let me down. We know a lot of people that voted for Newt but obviously not enough. (sigh)
You & me both. Looks like we may be headed for another election where many on our side would rather win a battle than win the war.
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