Even though it’s a “beauty contest,” a loss is a loss is a loss. And for the winner, it will have people looking at him and it will boost campaign fundraising as well.
Exactly. And what is a beauty contest anyway but people picking their favorites? Thank you, MO and MN!
Writer33 is right.
It has not been at all clear what would happen with Gingrich votes if Gingrich were to leave the race (which I'm not advocating, by the way). With Gingrich not getting on the ballot in Missouri, this had the unintended and unexpected consequence of being the first situation where we saw what would happen in a three-way Romney-Santorum-Paul matchup. Apparently when confronted with the need to make an actual choice, large numbers of Gingrich voters decided to pull the lever for Santorum and not for Romney.
Missouri's voter dynamics being what they are (until recently when Missouri started to track more conservative, this was traditionally a “bellwether” state that was a good predictor of national trends because the state is partly southern, partly northern, partly urban and partly rural) this demonstration of what Gingrich voters will do if their candidate is not on the ballot may have broader relevance.
The Virginia race between Romney and Ron Paul will show what happens with a “not-Romney” vote. We all know that Ron Paul has a small core of dedicated supporters, and his percentages have been consistent throughout the races so far, but most Republicans **REALLY** don't like Paul.
If Paul wins Virginia it will send a very strong message that even though most Republicans don't like Ron Paul, they **REALLY REALLY REALLY** don't like Romney.
Gingrich missing the Missouri ballot deadline and everybody but Romney and Paul failing to get enough signatures in Virginia may end up being useful after all.