Be careful what you wish for.
Remember that if Newt drops out, EVERY one of his delegates becomes a free agent, free to vote for whomever they want.
The GOP-E and Team Romney will be at the door of every single one of those delegates, promising them influence, jobs, positions, and future support. They will have bottomless wallets, and all of the party machinery to back-up those promises.
In other words, do you really want to wake-up after the IL Primary and see Romney with over 750 committed delegates?
Rick Santorum has said it himself: the key is a brokered convention; neither he nor Newt can get to 1144.
Wouldn't that happen at a brokered convention too? They can't win unless they can hold onto their delegates after they become free agents.
Rick Santorum has said it himself: the key is a brokered convention; neither he nor Newt can get to 1144.
The problem is Mitt's on his way to 1,144 without a game changer in this race. If we can mind control everyone to vote for Santorum instead of Newt, then we can win if he stays in, but that's the only way. 2/3rds of the upcoming delegates are subject to winner-take-all rules...about 800. If Ross Perot-style vote splitting causes us to lose any to Romney, then he's going to hit 1,144. We can just barely deny him the nomination if we win in every single moderate/swing state/district where vote-splitting is putting us at risk.