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If Rick and Newt continue to split the vote, they are opening up the only opportunity for Romney to win outright. If one or the other would whole heartidly throw in behind the other, they could almost certainly stop Romney fom reaching the magic number. Whether they could gain it themselves is more questionable...but they would surely push to a brokered convention where they could negotiatie a more conservative ticket in order to release their delegates.

Here's my analysis from my latest update to my GOP Primary Tracker Site:

Super Tuesday is now over. 10 States held primaries or caucuses. Mitt Romney won 6 of the 10. Rick Santorum won 3 of the 10, and Newt Gingrich one 1 of 10, his home state of Georgia.. A majority was won by a single candidate in only tree of the states. All by Mitt Romney with Mass at 72%, Idaho at 62% and Virginia at 60%. Of the total of 23 contests held to date, Romney has won an absolute majority 4 times, adding Nevada to the above at just over 50%. The only other majority win was Santorum in Missouri with 57%. To date, Romney has won 14 contests, Santorum has won 7 contests, and Newt Gingrich has won 2 contests. Ron Paul has not won any.

In the popular vote, to date Romney leads with over 3.2 million votes which is right at 40%. Santorum is second with 2 million votes or 26% , Gingrich is third with 1.8 million votes or 22% and Ron Paul is fourth with 900 thousand votes or 11%.

The effectiveness of Romney's campaign however, can be measured in his delegate count. Although he has only one 40% of the popular vote, this has translated to date into 431 delgates or 54% of the total delegates awarded to date. Santorum follows with 176 delegates or 21%, Gingrich with 126 or 15% and Paul with 79 delegates or 10%. At this rate, Romney has a good chance of winning the delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the convention, but it will go on until late in the season.

So, after Santorum's three win in February, Romney bounced back with five straight wins. On March 6th, Super Tuesday, Romney added six more wins, Santorum three more, and Gingrich one more. Romney is estatic about coming from behind and winning Ohio, though it was a near thing. Because of the closeness of the Ohio votes, and his other three wins, Santorum vows to stay in. Gingrich because of his strong win in his home state of Georgia also vows to stay in, and there was never any question, even with no wins, that Ron Paul will stay in on principle.

In my opinion, the tough primary season, despite pundents prognostications, continues to strengthen the candidates, keeping the GOP message at the top of the news cycle, and preparing the nominee to fight Obama. Any of the four would be orders of magnitude better than Barack Obama and his dismal failures. Here's the GOPTracking results now after Super Tuesday.

2012 GOP Presidential Primary Season Tracker (including caucuses) - LAST UPDATE: March 7, 2012

2012 GOP Primaries	Date	Mitt Romney				Newt Gingrich				Rick Santorum				Ron Paul				Ron Huntsman			Rick Perry			Michele Bachman			Herman Cain			Totals
2012 GOP Primaries	Date	Votes	%	Del's	Win	Votes	%	Del's	Win	Votes	%	Del's	Win	Votes	%	Del's	Win	Votes	%	Del's	Votes	%	Del's	Votes	%	Del's	Votes	%	Del's	Votes	Del's
Iowa	1/3/2012	29,805	24.58%	7	-	16,163	13.33%	2	-	29,839	24.61%	7	1	26,036	21.47%	7	-	739	0.61%	0	12,557	10.36%	0	6,046	4.99%	0	58	0.05%	0	121,243	23
New Hamp	1/10/2012	97,601	39.81%	7	1	23,291	9.50%	0	-	23,362	9.53%	0	-	56,872	23.20%	3	-	41,783	17.04%	2	1,764	0.72%	0	350	0.14%	0	160	0.07%	0	245,183	12
South Caro	1/21/2012	168,152	27.86%	2	-	244,133	40.44%	23	1	102,492	16.98%	0	-	78,362	12.98%	0	-	1,173	0.19%	0	2,534	0.42%	0	491	0.08%	0	6,326	1.05%	0	603,663	25
Florida	1/31/2012	776,059	46.44%	50	2	534,040	31.96%	0	-	223,208	13.36%	0	-	117,410	7.03%	0	-	6,199	0.37%	0	6,773	0.41%	0	3,967	0.24%	0	3,492	0.21%	0	1,671,148	50
Nevada	2/4/2012	16,486	50.12%	14	3	6,956	21.15%	6	-	3,277	9.96%	3	-	6,175	18.77%	5	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	32,894	28
Main		2,190	39.65%	9	4	349	6.32%	0	-	989	17.90%	3	-	1,996	36.13%	7	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	5,524	19
Colorado	2/7/2012	22,875	35.00%	13	-	8,394	12.84%	1	-	26,372	40.35%	17	2	7,713	11.80%	1	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	65,354	32
Minnesota		8,096	16.97%	2	-	5,134	10.76%	1	-	21,436	44.94%	25	3	13,030	27.32%	9	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	47,696	14
Missouri		63,826	26.24%	0	-	9,859	4.05%	0	-	138,957	57.12%	0	4	30,641	12.59%	0	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	243,283	0
Arizona	2/28/2012	216,805	47.99%	29	5	74,110	16.40%	0	-	122,088	27.03%	0	-	38,753	8.58%	0	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	451,756	29
Michigan		409,899	42.34%	16	6	65,016	6.72%	0	-	377,521	38.99%	14	-	115,712	11.95%	0	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	968,148	30
Washington	3/3/2012	19,111	37.65%	30	7	5,221	10.28%	0	-	12,089	23.81%	5	-	12,594	24.81%	5	-	924	1.82%	0	437	0.86%	0	198	0.39%	0	190	0.37%	0	50,764	40
Wyoming		822	38.99%	10	8	165	7.83%	1	-	673	31.93%	9	-	439	20.83%	6	-	3	0.14%	0	2	0.09%	0	2	0.09%	0	2	0.09%	0	2,108	26
Alaska	3/6/2012	4,285	32.52%	8	9	1,856	14.09%	3	-	3,860	29.30%	7	-	3,175	24.10%	6	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	13,176	24
Georgia	S	225,926	25.18%	15	-	417,364	47.81%	47	2	172,473	19.76%	10	-	57,125	6.54%	4	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	872,888	76
Idaho	u	27,514	61.61%	32	10	940	2.11%	0	-	8,115	18.17%	0	-	8,086	18.11%	0	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	44,655	32
Massachusetts	p	260,509	73.29%	41	11	16,756	4.71%	0	-	43,6114	12.27%	0	-	34,575	9.735	0	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	355,455	41
N. Dakota	e	2,691	23.71%	7	-	961	8.48%	2	-	4,510	39.74%	11	5	3,186	28.07%	8	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	11,349	28
Ohio	r	453,927	38.93%	32	12	174,606	14.78%	10	-	441,908	37.42%	20	-	110,633	9.37%	4	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	1,181,074	66
Oklahoma		80,291	28.34%	13	-	78,686	27.77%	13	-	96,759	34.15%	14	6	27,572	9.73%	13	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	283,208	43
Tennessee	T	153,889	28.46%	18	-	132,142	24.43%	12	-	204,978	37.90%	26	7	49,782	9.21%	2	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	540,791	58
Vermont	u	22,533	41.01%	9	13	4,606	8.39%	0	-	13,401	24.39%	4	-	14,407	26.22%	4	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	54,949	17
Virginia	e	158,050	59.52%	44	14	0	0.00%	0	-	0	0.00%	0	-	107,470	40.48%	5	-	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	0	0.00%	0	265,520	49
Kansas	3/10/2012																														40
Guam																															9
Virgin Islands																															9
Alabama	3/13/2012																														50
Am Somoa																															9
Hawaii																															20
Mississippi																															40
Missouri	3/17/2012																														52
Puerto Rico	3/18/2024																														23
Illinois	3/20/2012																														69
Louisiana	3/24/2012																														46
DC	4/3/2012																														19
Maryland																															37
Wisconsin																															42
Texas																															155

At large Del's				23				4				1				0				0			0			0					28
TOTALS		3,221,342	39.61%	431	14	1,820,751	22.39%	124	2	2,071,921	25.48%	183	7	921,744	11.33%	78	0	50,821	1.13%	2	24,067	0.53%	0	11,054	0.25%	0	10,228	0.23%	0	8,131,928	814
To Date % of	Delegates		Romney	53%			Gingrich	15%			Santorum	21%			Paul	10%			Huntsman	<1%		Perry	0%		Bachman	0%		Cain	0%

In my estimation, Super Tuesday though certainly not a "knock out" by any means, represented a moderatley strong showing and victory for Romney. He took six states and the lion's share of delegates and is on a path to outright win the nomination. Santorum had a decent night, but it had to be disappointing. If he had won Ohio and his margins had been better in Okalahoma and Tennessee, he would have had an outstanding night. Newt Gingrich has to be strongly disappointed. He won his home state by 20 ponits (but to be fair, Romney won his true home state by 60 points), but then Newt finished 3rd or fourth in all other contests and had a much smaller delegate count to show for it. For Paul, it has to be a huge disappointment. Though finishing second in a couple of races, his overall delegate count, even in the caucus states was meager at best. He was hoping to win North Dakota and gain more delegates overall, but none of that happened.

Romney will most probably at this point begin to pivot and focus more and more on going head to head with Obama and concentrating on finding a VP pick that will solidify as much of the party and base as he can for the general election.

Only by uniting, can Santorum and Gingrich now prevent Romney from having a real strong chance of winning the nomination outright. At this point I think the best they can hope for is a brokered convention...otherwise, mathematically, I believe Romney will ultimately eak out a win...probably at the 50-55% range of delegates needed. It seems at this point, for whatever reason, that Gingrich and Santorum are unwilling to unite, so they will continue to split the more conservative vote and allow Romney to win more contests and win a larger proportion of delegates in so doing. In the end, I will support any of the GOP candidates, whichever wins the nomination against the abject marxist ideolog, Obama, as any one of them will be far better than Barack Obama. Four more years of his horrific leadership and fundamental change could easily put this nation in a economic, debt, foreign policy, and energy hole we will have a very difficult and very painful time of digging our way out of...and at the cost of decades of heavy burden placed on our children and grandchildren.

If you have a mind, please ping others to this GOP Primary Tracker page.

America is at the crossroads of history and we must choose aright
(http://www.jeffhead.com/crossroads.htm)

Jeff Head
March 7, 2012

Did you look at these numbers?

I agree with your post, but why are the other 17 states not on your list? Most of those are on the left and right coast and more Romney friendly, i.e. California and New York.

Great work! Thanks!

Do you actually read what you post?
Remember brevity is the soul of wit.

Romney will most probably at this point begin to pivot and focus more and more on going head to head with Obama and concentrating on finding a VP pick that will solidify as much of the party and base as he can for the general election.

Much as I don't like it, I'm thinking that George Stephanolopis was right in his candid remark that it is going to be a Romney/Santorum ticket.

Whoa! Nice work. That deserves its own thread.

“Super Tuesday is now over. 10 States held primaries or caucuses. Mitt Romney won 6 of the 10. Rick Santorum won 3 of the 10, and Newt Gingrich one 1 of 10, his home state of Georgia.. A majority was won by a single candidate in only tree of the states. All by Mitt Romney with Mass at 72%, Idaho at 62% and Virginia at 60%. Of the total of 23 contests held to date, Romney has won an absolute majority 4 times, adding Nevada to the above at just over 50%. The only other majority win was Santorum in Missouri with 57%. To date, Romney has won 14 contests, Santorum has won 7 contests, and Newt Gingrich has won 2 contests. Ron Paul has not won any. “

Good summary!

Obviously, the only candidates garnering real delegate totals are Romney and Santorum. everyone except Romney and Santorum should get out of the race.

Excellent, Jeff.

Bottom line is that Newt should step down now. There are influential people talking with him now but so far, he won’t budge,,saying he will get out if he loses Mississippi and Alabama. But this is faulty reasoning as a split vote in those states won’t help Santorum, who needs to win them.

Newt can be either a spoiler or a kingmaker.
There’s a place for him in the administration..Press secretary to an ambassadorship are two suggestions.