"...Tennessee looking...more competitive. Santorum still up but Mitt and Newt within about 5-7 pts"

Public Policy Polling (via Twitter) ^ | 3/3/12 | Public Policy Polling

[BCrago66]

Public Policy Polling is polling 3 Republican Primary states with weekend: Tennessee, Georgia, and Ohio. (I know, it's a Democratic firm, but I doubt that bias expresses itself when it's a Republican v. Republican race.) According to the tweets, Newt is not doing great in Ohio, polling at around 15%. However:

1) Newt's moving up to challenge Santorum in Tennessee:

"Surprise of the day- Tennessee looking much more competitive. Santorum still up but Mitt and Newt within about 5-7 pts"

2) PPP confirms Newt's big lead in Georgia, and also finds that Santorum is fading to 3rd place in that State:

"Newt up big in Georgia. Kinda wish we'd polled Oklahoma instead. Romney with a healthy lead for 2nd over Santorum so far"

So this news - plus the latest Gallup national poll which places Newt within 5 of Santorum - appears to confirm the trend of Newt rising, and Santorum fading. Let's do all we can to accelerate this trend, so that Newt, and not Romney, is the ultimate beneficiary.

[willyd]

I wonder where Newt’s votes will go when he drops out...to Santorum or Romney? My bet is they will all go Santorum...this means that Romney is really losing by 10 points in every state if you add those two together.

[Irenic]

If Newt drops out, I will not be bothering with the primary in my state.

I will vote against Obama in the election.

[Christie at the beach]

Newt is the best of those 3.

Come on Tennessee, be brave and support a strong person to take on the Obama radical regime. This is a time to get our country back, not manage the decay as Newt says.

[onyx]

LOOKING GOOD! GO NEWT! CALL TO ACTION!

[onyx]

GO Tennessee!
FOR NEWT!

WooHoo!!

GO Tennessee!
FOR NEWT!

WooHoo!!

GO Tennessee!
FOR NEWT!

WooHoo!!

[georgiagirl_pam]

DELEGATE RACE AS IT STANDS NOW:
Romney- 154, of those 36 are non-binding= 118 solid
Santorum- 69, of those 52 are non-binding= 17 solid
Gingrich- 33, of those 3 are non-binding= 30 solid
Paul- 26, of those 18 are non-binding= 8 solid

POPULAR VOTE TOTALS:
Romney- 1,749,677
Gingrich- 978,229
Santorum- 932,508
Paul- 463,176

All information found at Real Clear Politics

So willyd, why don’t we compare solid delegate counts on Wednesday morning. Or better yet, why don’t we compare solid delegate counts on March the 14th. Then we will see who needs to be talking about dropping out.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Newt's voters will sit out the rest of the primary and let the backstabbing weasel take on Romney all by himself. This Newt supporter on balance doesn't see a measurable difference between Romney and Santorum.

[Pride in the USA]

Encouraging. Newt is the only one running who will make the changes necessary to save our country, period. His record of change when he was Speaker speaks for itself. A visionary. An historian. A President.

[napscoordinator]

This Newt supporter on balance doesn't see a measurable difference between Romney and Santorum.

Dumbest statement on Free Republic all year. You must be a complete and utter buffoon if you believe that. Romney and Santorum have a ton of difference but you prove that even on Free Republic we have below intelligent people.

[LeopoldvonRanke]

I like it how you manage to throw out 85 percent of Santorum’s delegates. Slick.

I’m happy to compare actual delegate counts, and that shows Santorum 2:1 over Newt.

[lonevoice]

It is encouraging. Santorum’s co-frontrunner status has taken some hits in the last few weeks since he caught the gaze of Romnney’s Eye of Sauron. It looks like Santorum’s star is fading, hopefully with enough time for a Newt resurgence. If so, the timing will favor Newt.

[Parley Baer]

This is good news. Rick has been dropping in a number of places and Newt has been on the rise. Even in Ohio Newts numbers have been climbing. So he should get a piece of the pie in that state. GO NEWT GO!

[BCrago66]

I think that Mitt introduced a toxicity to the Republican primaries, that is spreading and now causing fights among Newt v. Santorum supporters. Not unlike the evil supernatural spirits which caused such acrimony among fellow New Yorkers in the first Ghostbuster movie.

I’ll admit that I’m like a lot of Newt supporters in that I am disappointed in Santorum for piling on in some of Romney’s attacks on Newt (in contrast to Newt, who showed class and did not do the same when Romney attacked Santorum.) That said, I think both Newt & Santorum supporters should pledge to support the other guy against Romney, because Romney is a nowhere man, with no convictions and little character. Both Newt & Santorum are lifelong conservatives and individuals of solid character.

[HoneysuckleTN]

I will be voting for Newt. :)

[gov_bean_ counter]

Get over yourself you single issue clod. Santorum is not a man of integrity, character or conviction. His Senate votes show that his “principles” are negotiable and his personal history shows he hasn't always come down on the side of life.

[Red Steel]

Newt is surging. ;-)

I expect he will over take the hemorrhaging Santo by Super Tuesday in Tennessee.

[ansel12]

Santorum has a similar journey as Romney when it comes to conservatism.

Santorum changed from pro-abortion to mostly pro-life when he entered politics, his Catholic religion evidently had never affected him.

Santorum changed from running as a “Progressive Conservative” in his campaign literature, and one who wanted the hard core pro-abortion radical Arlen Specter for President, into the Romneylite guy that we see today.

[georgiagirl_pam]

I didn’t throw out Santorum’s delegates. Nothing slick about it. JUST THE FACTS, as they relate to the Delegate Count right now. Do you need me to explain what a non-binding delegate is and what it means to the candidate?
Now he may end up getting them in the end, but as of right now they are not SOLID in his camp.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/republican_delegate_count.html

From the Missouri Secretary of State- -The February 7th “beauty contest” primary will not count for delegates toward the 2012 GOP convention. The Missouri Republican Party will hold a caucus on March 17th which will determine the delegates sent to the 2012 GOP convention
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/MO-R#0421
The delegates in attendance at each caucus alone determine if presidential preference is to be a factor and, if so, how it is to be applied.

Iowa-http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/IA-R#0616
The delegates in attendance at each County Convention alone determine if presidential preference is to be a factor and, if so, how it is to be applied.

Colorado- http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/CO-R#0414
Delegates selected at the Precinct Caucuses may (but are not required to) declare their Presidential Preference.

Wyoming- http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/WY-R#0412
The participants at each County Convention alone determine if presidential preference is to be a factor in such choices and, if so, how it is to be applied. All delegates are officially unbound.

[Mariner]

Yes, the VAST MAJORITY of so-called “Santorum delegates” are simply unbound delegates that can vote for whomever they choose on the convention floor.