I wish he had been able to run hard in SC while he was in Nevada, but on the other hand, it made no difference to him whether he ended up third or barely fourth. If he couldn’t come in 1st or 2nd, it didn’t matter.
By focusing on Neveda, Romney actually took over 50% of the vote in a 5-way race. Nobody else is going to do that.
So he’s won 3 of 6, and those three are still looking like the 3 biggest victory totals (66% Wyoming, 53% Nevada, 39% Michigan).
Rudy might win Florida, and try to take all their delegates because he owns the party apparatus, but he’ll do it with under 30% of the vote if he does. McCain isn’t doing much better than 30% in South Carolina.
Romney can also say that he really didn’t campaign in SC.
If Romney doesn’t win Florida, it would be better for Romney if Rudy took all of the delagates, rather than McCain or Huckabee. Rudy hasn’t spent money and time in the super Tuesday states. Romney has the best ground game, imo, for super Tuesday.