Posted on 04/15/2012 2:47:37 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The exit of Rick Santorum from the Republican presidential primary essentially clears the path Mitt Romney is traveling to become the party's nominee against U.S. President Obama in November but Romney still has to win the hearts of GOP voters as well as the party's nomination.
Romney had 573 delegates per the Republican National Committee's count to Santorum's 202 delegates when the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania withdrew last week. But he has yet to stir a fire in the belly of the party's evangelical and conservative wings as he moves closer to the 1,144 delegates needed to claim the nomination.
"Some of Santorum's delegates will immediately shift to Romney, some will gradually shift, and a hard core group will probably go to another candidate or remain uncommitted," political commentator Steven Schier of Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., said. "This last group will probably not be large enough to disrupt a Romney coronation at the convention."
The final Gallup poll conducted during the party preference process, released last week, indicated Romney is the preferred presidential candidate of 42 percent of Republicans polled nationwide, among the lowest measured in a final primary poll since 1972, Gallup said. Santorum was the choice of 24 percent of Republicans in the poll completed before he made his announcement, the Princeton, N.J., pollster said.
Even though he trailed -- badly -- in money and delegates, Santorum's strong performance created a sometimes bruising primary campaign. Santorum won 11 states before he bowed out ahead of his home state's primary April 24 where several polls indicated Santorum held a slim single-digit lead over Romney and one survey showed Romney leading Santorum.
Santorum's withdrawal cleared the way for Republicans to rally around Romney, and three prominent conservatives, Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Scott of Florida, and Sen. Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania endorsed Romney hours after Santorum announced his departure.
Conservative leaders who had rallied around Santorum's campaign, however, have raised doubts that faction of the Republican Party could readily embrace Romney, seen by that wing as too moderate, The New York Times reported.
Conservative activist Richard Viguerie was blunt, especially since Romney unleashed a barrage against Santorum and other conservative candidates.
"After having destroyed every conservative that came on the scene," Viguerie said, "you can't say 'You have to line up behind me.' No, no, no. Conservatives are not going to jump until they hear where Governor Romney wants to take everybody."
"I just think it's going to be a much harder lift to take someone who seems like a moderate and try to get conservatives excited about it," Family Research Council President Tony Perkins told CNN.
Perkins said Romney shouldn't expect to collect the same type of support Santorum got if the former Massachusetts governor doesn't fully embrace the principles of the socially conservative organization.
"And so if the party is moving in a different direction, we are not going there," Perkins said. "The only reason there was an alignment with Rick Santorum from our constituency is because Rick embraced the ideas, the policies and the principles that our organization and our constituency believes in and so to the degree that one candidate or another aligns with that, they're going to find support. If they don't, they're not going to get the unbridled enthusiastic support that Rick Santorum enjoys."
Even though Santorum's departure removes the last major stumbling block to Romney's nomination two other candidates -- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas -- said they would stay in the race until the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., with each claiming he represents the conservative alternative.
Without flat-out saying Gingrich and Paul should end their bids, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told CNN, "I think they should all look at the math."
"Gingrich and Paul may remain on the stump, but they will receive relatively limited media attention because the nomination contest is essentially over," Schier said. "Romney's challenge regarding these candidates is obtaining their strong personal support by the convention so that he can launch the fall campaign without a divided party."
Gingrich and Paul both have personal agendas they want to bring to the fore, Schier said.
"For Paul, it is libertarianism. For Gingrich, it is strong social and fiscal conservatism," the commentator said. "For these reasons, they remain at least nominally active candidates. It would be best for Romney if both candidates dropped out and endorsed him, but neither is likely to create considerable disruption at the convention."
Romney and Santorum traded vitriol throughout the campaign, but former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a leader on Romney's campaign team, said he expected Santorum to rally behind Romney.
"[We] need all of the pieces to come together to make this a successful campaign," said Pawlenty, who abandoned his bid to be the GOP nominee after the Iowa straw poll last summer. "But ... there's a grand tradition of people competing hard for party nominations" then uniting against a common foe.
Priebus said told CNN he believed Republicans would be "100 percent unified behind our nominee."
"I think time heals some wounds," the RNC leader said. "And I also think that over time, over the next several weeks, I think our party gets completely unified."
The main challenge for Romney within the GOP is "generating enthusiasm among the evangelicals and strong conservatives who have thus far disdained him," Schier said. "He needs their strong support in the form of volunteer hours and campaign contributions. He will be conducting an outreach over the next several months to secure that support because he needs their support to be competitive with President Obama this fall."
Don't forget ........... He's "Team Player" who is, was, and always will be an "Establishment" Republican. My word, I've gone down the voting list from Sarah Palin to Newt and I'm going no further. I'll not vote for someone who should actually be running on the Democrat ticket as a moderate Democrat. Let'r rip!
Clearly you know nothing of the spiritual and religious convictions that drive Romney. He takes a different road to the same destination as Obama. Both are morally decadent.
The GOP is only a pretend opposition party. They are one of the 2 branches of the Incumbency Party of Ivy League Lawyers. It’s been that way for decades, these 2 parties have had a lock on the USA for nearly 2 centuries. One of the branches needs to be cut first, if that is the GOP so be it. FUMR
Voting for Obama, knowing what he will do to the country, is an act of sedition. A short hop from treason.
Nah, Romney is a second hand communist. While he is not a dyed in wool commie ..everything in his political history indicates he went along with their programs. So, he’s either a sell out or a go along to get along ..either way not gonna be good for the people.
Definitely not a reformer.
Colorado Republicans split delegate votes between Romney, unified Paul and Santorum supporters
I care far less about his spiritual and religious convictions than his economic convictions, which is what separates him from the current Marxist, and is what will affect the stability of our country.
“So, he’s either a sell out or a go along to get along...”
Which is why we need to take the house and senate, and force him to “go along” with the handful of real conservatives we’ve got. But he has to be there, not Obama, who will appoint more Kagans, veto more of Paul Ryan’s budgets, and continue to drag the country into a Marxist dystopia.
Obama second term might bring this whole socialist/individual freedom conflict to a head. Would be interesting to see. It has to be resolved, why not now?
I make my own decisions based on my own research and what I perceive to be the best interest of my childern, grandchildren and the country.
I need no direction.....you do what you think best and I will do what I think best.
There is no comparison between Romney, however weak, and the Evil ObamaNation in the White House.
“Which is why we need to take the house and senate”
Yep, one of only two options we have (3 if count a miracle=Newt)
The other option is a brokered convention..(Palin?)
Yes. His cronyism tied to government is simply another form of socialism. He is a different form of socialism than is Obama, but socialism is socialism.
Benito would have been Romney’s good friend.
I’m getting to the end of my day CT!
It’s pretty standard for the top guy to help erase the competitors campaign debt. Romney will undoubtedly help Santorum erase his. Gingrich may end up on his own, which really means he will stiff his vendors. I hope Newt is man enough to pay the bills he racked up.
Newt Gingrich to hold forum in Richardson [Texas this Monday] “Former House Speaker and Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich is scheduled to hold a public forum Monday in Richardson.
The meeting is set for 4 p.m. at Pappasito's Cantina, 723 Central Expressway. Space is limited and the audience will be part of a 30-mintue question and answer period.”……..
Fred Grandy Interviews Newt Gingrich [Secure Freedom Radio] "Presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich shares his foreign policy strategy for Middle East. Gingrich touches on every country of the region from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Turkey and finally Afghanistan and speaks about the policies that would be implemented in a Gingrich Presidency."
While you and others on this site are serving as Romney's door porters, 55,000+ Lds missionaries -- like what Romney was -- are knocking on front doors trying to spiritually enslave your children and grandchildren.
Mormons' legalism is so great, ya gotta go back to the Pharisees to find an equivalency. And what was Jesus' assessment of the Pharisees? 15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. (Matthew 23:15)
Yeah, you be sure to train those next generations to vote for...
>.. the socialists (like Romney)
...& the pro-aborts (like Romney)
...& the liberal judge appointers (like Romney)
...& idolaters (like Romney)
That way, when it comes time, they, too, can vote for somebody to the left of Obama -- because that candidate will be bound to be an "improvement" vs. whoever the Dems throw up there...
[Where "lessers-of-two-evils" voting gets us as a nation...evil...pure evil...with conservatives openly confessing they endorse such self-confessed 'evil']
You will not understand his economic convictions unless you understand their source. His religion informs all of his political life. Ignore his religion and you ignore the man.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.