Workers listen as Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop in Canton, Ohio March 5, 2012. (Brian Snyder/Courtesy Reuters)
Posted on 03/08/2012 2:23:11 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Romney backers in Massachusetts were feeling some frustration yesterday over the long primary slog their candidate still faces after Super Tuesday. Some said his campaign is not getting enough credit for primary wins so far.
“They continue to say he has to do this or that. He does it and they say he still hasn’t closed the deal,” said state Rep. George N. Peterson Jr., R-Grafton. “It seems as though he clears one hurdle and they put up a new one. He clears that and they say he didn’t clear it by enough.”
The Romney campaign won six of 10 primaries Tuesday and, Mr. Peterson said, won Romney’s home state of Massachusetts by a landslide with no other candidate even getting the minimum 15 percent to earn delegates. “Evidently that was not enough,” he said.
“He won the important state of Ohio even though he was behind last week, and that wasn’t enough,” Mr. Peterson said.
Mr. Romney, who pledged Tuesday night to win the nomination, also seems to have accepted that his victories on Super Tuesday, which give him a commanding delegate lead over Newt Gingrich, Rich Santorum and Ron Paul, would not prevent a continuing primary fight — possibly leading up to the convention.
Whatever happens, Mr. Romney, who told supporters Tuesday to expect good days and bad days the rest of the way, said yesterday he is ready to fight for the nomination all the way to the end.
But some local supporters think that is a dangerous path for the GOP, and would prefer to get the party united behind one candidate sooner to focus on beating President Barack Obama in the general election.
The fact that the primaries are now moving to Alabama, Mississippi, Kansas, and then Texas — states that have large numbers of evangelical voters who could help Mr. Santorum or Mr. Gingrich rally — reinforced analysis around the country yesterday that the former Massachusetts governor has not sealed the deal for the nomination.
“I was hoping last night it would be a little clearer and we could start focusing on the general election. But it looks like that’s not going to happen for a while,” said Worcester County Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis. “The question is, will we be able to rally the party behind him, or whether it will be so divisive it will cripple us,” the sheriff said.
“I think Gov. Romney will win the nomination, but a lot of us were hoping he would wrap it up sooner rather than see a prolonged primary fight,” Mr. Evangelidis said. The further the primary challenges go, the more the debate moves the candidate to the right and into more controversial social issues, he said.
That, he said, is a problem because it risks alienating more independent voters who he expects to decide the final election. It also distracts from Mr. Romney’s strongest issue in the general election, turning around the national economy.
An exit poll of 1,546 Republican primary voters in Massachusetts taken Tuesday at 25 randomly selected precincts found that 59 percent see the economy as the No. 1 issue in the election. That was followed by the deficit, immigration and abortion.
The exit poll also showed that 41 percent of Massachusetts GOP primary voters saw the ability to defeat Mr. Obama as the most important quality in the race, with experience chosen by 27 percent; moral character chosen by 19 percent; and being a true conservative chosen by 10 percent.
Religion played little difference in the voting here between Protestants and Catholics with both backing Mr. Romney by more than 70 percent. Among evangelicals, however, Mr. Romney got 56 percent to Mr. Santorum’s 25 percent and Mr. Gingrich’s 13 percent, according to the exit surveys.
Mr. Romney got 75 percent of the women’s vote and 72 percent from men. Older voters supported Mr. Romney at higher percentages than younger voters, and he did best among those earning more than $100,000, which made up 40 percent of those voting in the Republican primary in the state.
The poll also showed the tea party movement remains strong among Republicans and independents who voted in the GOP primary here Tuesday. A full 46 percent said they support the tea party movement and 36 percent said they were neutral, with 14 percent opposed to tea party politics. Also, only 35 percent said they were very conservative while 49 percent described themselves as moderate to liberal.
The poll also showed that few minorities voted in the Massachusetts primary. Of those polled, 98 percent were identified as white; 1 percent black; and 1 percent other races.
The exit polling was conducted by Edison Research of Somerville, N.J., for the National Election Pool, which consists of ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News.
Workers listen as Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop in Canton, Ohio March 5, 2012. (Brian Snyder/Courtesy Reuters)
What a lemon.
the more the debate moves the candidate to the right and into more controversial social issues, he said.
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Yeah you wouldnt want people to think Willie Mitty leans to the right...
Dont worry we dont think that of the sold out liberal at all...
hes safe...
it risks alienating more independent voters
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Yeah mustnt upset the independents..Romneys homies..
The Republicans and the Conservatives ???
P them off all ya want..
moral character chosen by 19 percent; and being a true conservative chosen by 10 percent.
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The ones these werent important too voted for Romney...
They continue to say he has to do this or that. He does it and they say he still hasn’t closed the deal,”
If the “deal” is winning the Presidential Election, that ain’t never going to happen. If Romney becomes the GOP nominee a huge segment of the conservative vote will be sitting it out. Poeple are done with that silly nonsense of voting for the “lesser of two evils” You run two evils well then you can have the biggest one...........
Wow! Those guys are ON FIRE for Myth!
The GOP-e could not have chosen a better candidate to depress the vote in the general election.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
That was good!
He did all the right things to buy the GOP nomination but he left out one thing—you can't sell what you ain't got—especially a vital commodity like character.
The people didn't bother showing up to vote. There was an historic low turn out. Even if Romney had gotten all the votes he'd still received barely more than 10% of what is normally the turnout in a Presidential primary.
He is not able to pull the party base behind him. How would he peel off a Democrat faction if he can't do that?
The old "go to the middle" stuff doesn't help ~ there is NO MIDDLE. In fact, there's now $6.00 gasoline in California and by Summer we should have $7.00, maybe $8.00 gasoline all over the country with a serious worsening of the Great Obama Recession.
Newt begins to look better and better with that in place!
Poeple are done with that silly nonsense of voting for the “lesser of two evils”
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It’s our own fault. The Conservatives can never settle on one candidate to take on the lone Moderate. They keep splitting the vote and we end up with a Moderate candidate like John McCain. So, I blame the Conservatives as much as I blame the establishment. We’re dividing our votes and giving RINO-Rom the victories in state after state. JUST DAMN!!! Maybe it’s time that we split off and organize “The Conservative Party of America”.
Hey Mass, it wouldn’t take so long if you would send us a candidate that wasn’t left of Jimmy Carter.
Good Morning muawiyah-
Yep. News reports said this was a record low voter turnout for the GOP Primary here in the Old Dominion ...possibly the worst in history according to the radio.
My wife and I are Newt supporters; so we “protest voted” for “crazy uncle” Ron Paul. She said the turnout was light when she went to vote early and there was no one at the polling place when I voted in mid afternoon except election officials. One local county had an ENTIRE PRECINCT WHERE NO ONE CAME TO VOTE!!! ...and this is a VERY CONSERVATIVE area w/strong GOP support.
Mitt is a big time loser and will hurt the entire GOP “ticket.” If the GOP elites think Mitt will help w/the Senate and House candidates they need to be tested for hallucinogens!!!
‘Take care,
-Geoff
This article perfectly encapsulates the Romney supporters I know. They keep insisting to me on his “inevitablility” and hoe I am hurting the party and the chances of defeating Obama because I’m selfish and won’t just simply “get in line” behind Romney.
I tell them that I’ll never again “fall in line” for some moderate weasel the GOPe tries to stuff down my throat. If Romney has to fight all the way to the convention and then gets has ass handed to him by Obama (which he will since Romney can only seem to win majorities in urban areas where Obama will clean his clock), the GOPe has nobody to blame but themselves.
You would have thought that the Bush the Elder nightmare with Ross Perot would have opened their eyes, but here we are 20 years later and the GOPe is still trying to force meateaters to feast on oatmeal.
“Maybe it’s time that we split off and organize “The Conservative Party of America”.
Hear, hear!
GOP is dead, long live CPA!
The goal at this point is simply to deny myth the 1144 delegates he needs to clinch.
If he doesn't get them, there will be a brokered convention at which we will put the nails in the coffin of the GOPe.
He wouldn't be running against a Democrat endorsed by the KKK this time but is he going to support the ticket or go with the people?
At the same time if all we are running is Gingrich you'll lose the old ladies and the church choir who'll only vote for a former alter boy. If all we run is Santorum, you'll lose the people who demand total adherence to a balanced budget.
Running them together against Romney deprives him of both the Social Conservative and Fiscal Conservative votes. All that's left for Romney are the fringe voters and Mormons, and that doesn't win the election!
Not to worry, the Romney game planners know this already. That's why Bolling and company sought so hard to de-reail the primary in Virginia.
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