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.
That’s assuming that FR conservatives are the base. Im not sure that is the case.
Santorum has already won Michigan, in reality.
A close call in AZ is a win for Santorum, too.
The only way I would even consider Romney is if he picked a REAL conservative for VP.
Even then I would have to seriously think about it.
I fear Romney is almost as big a lier as Obama. He would have to be.
He is Victor Victoria of the Republican party. That is to say, he is a liberal democrat posing as a Republican posing as a new born conservative ( although there is absolutely no evidence he is conserv)
I would feel little better if Romney would say he would whole hearedly commit to choosing Constitional Conservative(s) for SCOTUS.
Although, he is a lier so....
How does a brokered convention work exactly? Are the choices limited to the candidates that are/were running?
How long was Santorum’s concession speech? OMG intoxicated by his own verbosity!
If your analysis is correct, Romney is the nominee. By the time enough of the voters decide to switch to move Newt out of third or fourth place in the upcoming states, Romney will have locked up enough to coast to a win at the convention. In most Super Tuesday states, Newt would have to double his current polling (in one week) to get into second.
You really believe that a Romney pick would be any different from an Obama pick? Lay off the Koolaid.
Well based on that strategy then santorum would not have been running by the time michigan came around. He would have dropped out long ago. As it is santorum has 59 delegates and gingrich has 32 which is not an incredible margin for santorum.
I am not singling out santorum or gingrich. I am just saying conservatives as a group can’t blame it on karl rove or some convenient whipping boy. Somehow conservatives must unite around a candidate if they want to beat romney.
Romney was on course to be the nominee months ago once the “base”, and I’m not sure who is running it these days, decided to get flightly and start jumping around based on debate performances. I’m a little old fashioned. I wanted to pick a conservative nominee based on an overall conservative record to most issues but that seems to be a minority view the last few elections.
All I know is that while the liberal segment of the GOP may be a minority they settle on a nominee early and stick with them. Meanwhile we’ve ended up with Newt who has a history of being a serial adulterer with a penchant for kissing up to liberals and the establishment if it advances his own career. Ron Paul who is an anti-semite. And Santorum who makes conservatives and “tea Party” goers hypocritical considering how they blasted Bush and now want to back someone who likes big government even more then he did but has less personal charm to sell himself.
Is it a wonder voting turnout has been so low? I’m certainly not voting for any of these people in the primaries. The madness that made these the pick of the crop to choose from isn’t going to lure me behind any of them and other conservatives must feel the same since they’ve abstained from voting too.
I'd just as soon give it to Obama than Romney. I don't want the Republicans blamed for it.
I agree. Not as embarrassing as we had hoped, but barely squeaking by in your home state is not something to be proud of.
Who said I was for Romney? I despise the dude. Please see my tag line.
When I said “We’ll see what happens next Tuesday,” I meant I was rooting for either Rick or Newt to do well. I’m not going to bash either one of them, an activity that seems all too common on Free Republic. These two guys....Rick and Newt....both have their good and bad points, but both of them are light years better than either Obama or Romney.
I would run, not walk, to the polls this November to vote for either Newt or Rick. Maybe they should join forces to battle Romney and then Obummer.
My big worry is the two of them splitting the conservative vote and paving the way for that phoney Williard.
Mob rule has ensued and this country will further sink into the morass of sin and debauchery. The USA will soon go under. If the Lord does not return it will happen in my lifetime, and I'm 51.
“A lot of people have that “my guy didn’t win so I’m gonna pout and not vote and let obama win” attitude.”
Including the GOPe.
And if Romney is the Nom, I'm not voting for him. I bet a LOT of people don't. He could never win against Obama, anyway. Either Newt or Santorum should back-out. We've been saying that for weeks now.........
Well, here’s the reality.
NH, IA, FL, MO, MI, MN, CO, NV, AZ, ME, SC are gone. That’s 12 states. So far Newt has 1.
Score is 7 Romney. Santorum 4, Newt 1.
Newt’s not gonna win Wyoming. That makes 13 states down. Romney with 8, Santorum 4, and Newt 1.
That means that Newt has a state deficit of 7 on Romney. He has 37 states to make up that deficit. In order for him to beat Romney in states, Romney cannot win more than 15 of the remaning states.
States left:
NY, VT, NJ, CT, MA, DE, MD. That’s 7 right there. Romney needs only 8 more.
To get to 15 -
HI, CA, IL, NM, ID, MT, OR, VA and WI! That gives him an unassailable lead vs Newt.
This is what Newt is up against. Newt needs to beat Romney in one of OR, MT, ID or NM in order to win the nomination, and he can’t afford to lose anywhere else.
“You’re also making the strange assumption that Santorum and Newt’s standings in the polls are going to stay static”
Nonsense. I outline a variety of assumptions based on polling. Even Newt at his best isn’t going to get more than 14 states vs Romney. It’s too late for him at this point. We are already 1/3rd in and Newt has exactly one state.
“Santorum had his chance and blew it in a big way.”
Uh, no. He tied Romney in MI - and picked up 15 delegates to Newt’s zero on the night. I’m sorry, you don’t get to write the narrative. At the end of the day, it’s Santorum 15, Newt, 0. The last time Newt picked up a delegate was in South Carolina.
“Newt got a BIG bump in the last-day voting”
All the way up to 7 percent in MI?
“Newt got 11% of the last-minute vote. He only got 3% in the few days before that”
So you’re proud of the fact that your man almost surged up to Ron Paul levels? Do you even hear yourself?
And how did that work out for team conservative? First time we’ve lost a state because of vote splitting. Hey, facts are facts. So far the states lost because of conservative vote splitting - is one, and that’s because of Newt.
“Let’s also not forget that 9% of the voters in Michigan were crossover Democrats and voted HEAVILY for Santorum.”
And? Santorum won among conservative + very conservative. As he did in CO, MN and MO. Look at the counties. Santorum did better in the more conservative counties.
Wow, and here I thought I was on Free Republic which supports conservatives?
You’re happy to see Mitt cruise to the nomination?
I haven't been to those places lately, but at least they have beautiful cities. When I speak of the Eastern Bloc, I am talking about not being able to find vegetables, or walking into a "store" where there is one item in the window. Do you remember that funny advertisement (I think it was for Yellow Pages) where the guy had a shop called "Bob's Rug?" ANd he only had one rug in the store? That's what I'm talking about. We would joke about that: "Pavel's Purse" or "Cristov's Crystal Vase." You would walk into these stores in the "business" district and there was one thing to buy - if even that. The next day, the store would be closed. We had a man on the train in East Berlin come over to us and bend down to look at our shoes (high top trainers). They had never seen shoes like that, stuff we totally took for granted.
I'm talking about cities that are falling into ruin around you. Some of the beautiful medieval towns in south Bohemia where the buildings had not been painted for 60 years and stuff was crumbling and everything was gray and drab. The elegant water fountain in the town square where the water nymph's face was missing along with several limbs. It was very, very sad because you knew that at one time, it was a gloriously beautiful place. Imagine this in our cities and what that would be like. Imagine broken cars and old appliances dumped on the side of the road. Medians and yards that are never mown - no home that stands out for someone to be proud of. Or for an even better visual, just read "Atlas Shrugged." Or drive through the Detroit.
I'm also talking about what living like that does to people spiritually and psychologically. They walk differently; they speak differently. They whisper in public. They always look over their shoulder. You guys think I'm kidding... I'm not. I felt like I was in the middle of a bad spy movie when I was over there. And this was after the Berlin wall had come down.
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