Numbers are numbers. Rick Santorum has done an incredible job running for this nomination. Incredible. With 10% of the money and maybe 1% of the organization of Mitt Romney, yet still he has been competitive or more in state race after state race. But numbers are numbers. Romney has the organization and the money to go all the way to the nomination and the numbers are stacked against Rick.
So Romney may be thinking that the nomination is all his and maybe he is right. But the fact that a candidate like the honorable Rick Santorum continues to make such a race out of this even while being outspent tenfold and with an organization deficit of the same magnitude should be a wake up call for Romney.
Romney is winning right now on the strength of his fundraising and the strength of his organization. This is not to be denigrated. Romney did the hard work of fundraising and putting together a national and well organized campaign. He worked hard and earned every vote. Yet, he is barely squeaking by in primary after primary.
People will understandably say “a win is a win” and this is true, to a point. But with the financial and organization advantage he has, Romney should have walked on cake. But he didn’t.
So, assuming the pattern holds an Romney gets enough votes to make in Tampa, then what?
Does he turn leftward and try to court the fictional middle? Or doe she try to get right with the unconvinced? I am still unconvinced. Romney still needs to win me and looking at the Republican electorate at large, I am far from alone.
Even if Romney looks assured of the nomination, winning the general is a whole ‘nother thing. If he wants me and my ilk, he has a lot of convincing still to do and frankly I liked him a lot better at the beginning of this process than I do now.
Winning delegates is not necessarily winning votes.
Convince me.
March 7, 2012 at 5:47 am
Romney's going to get Mondale'd in the general. Elections are about turnout, and the base won't show up to vote for him. It's sad that we've allowed the media and the Romney machine to frame the debate and the talking points.
I'm now fully expecting the USCCB to cave as well. 90+% of conservatives in this country are cowards.
March 7, 2012 at 5:48 am
why throwing in the towel? Santorum and Romney are neck and neck in Ohio. This is anyone's race. Take this post down! It's demoralizing.
March 7, 2012 at 6:40 am
Romney's not a winner in my book!
March 7, 2012 at 10:48 am
Romney is a white Obama on nearly every policy. He lies and has flip flopped on every issue. What is the matter with you? Santorum is a crazy warmongering fake. Turn off your stinking TV and look at the records of these men! Good grief. Now you can start ridiculing the ONLY honest, decent man in the race, the one your precious TV talking heads have trashed and ignored, the one whose votes are thrown away, the one with a 30 year record of telling the truth and quietly following Gods law without rending his garments on street corners, the one overwhelmingly supported by the active military YOU supposedly support, the one who understands economics, PREDICTED every economic bubble and the Fed ripoff of our savings and money, Ron Paul.
March 7, 2012 at 10:50 am
Besides, liberals are voting for Romney because they know he can't beat Obama. Paul is the only one who can attract enough independents and moderates to beat Obama. There just aren't enough of you Juda-ized warvangelicals to elect St Torum.
March 7, 2012 at 12:04 pm
I saw Santorum at a fundraiser in Ohio on Friday night. I'm sad that he did't beat Romney here but am thrilled that the vote was only 1% apart. He is the real deal, and he is DIFFERENT enoungh and bold enough to win against Obama. Santorum is the one. Pray for him. Pray for us.
March 7, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Go Santorum! Obama 2012!
March 7, 2012 at 2:33 pm
"the honorable Rick Santorum"
Because a guy who supported Arlen Specter, a pro-abortion Republican, and has openly admitted (recently) to sending tax payer dollars to Planned Parenthood can in any way be considered honorable.
Here's a link with video showing Santorum sitting on stage at an Arlen Specter rally in Specter's bid for President in 1996.
http://www.ronpaul2012.com/2012/03/05/in-case-you-missed-it-santorum-at-pro-abortion-1996-presidential-announcement/
Honorable? Please.
March 7, 2012 at 2:42 pm
To the Ronulans, Ron Paul is a crank who hasn't a snowball's chance in Tucson to be elected President of the United States. His radical libertarianism and isolationism will alienate the conservatives, the evangelicals and the liberals. His stand isn't for smaller government, it's for incrementally more government than anarchy.
As for Romney, If Obama and his ilk are running this country as if they were driving a bus toward a brick wall, they would be driving at 1,000 miles an hour, Romney will slow us to 999.78 miles per hour. He's not even Obama Lite because there is no significant difference between them
So, my plan, if Romney is nominated, is to actually vote for Obama, if this country is finished, no point in pretending. Let's just get it over with so that, perhaps we can rebuild from the rubble.
March 7, 2012 at 3:14 pm
I don't like Romney and do not believe he will be a good president. Yet, should he win the nomination, he will have my full support simply because the alternative is so much worse.
People who "protest" by not voting are effectively voting for the most pro-abortion, anti-family, anti-religious freedom president in history. These are not merely characteristics, but a driven ideology with devastating consequences.
March 7, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Here is my problem with Mr. Inevitable…
March 7, 2012 at 3:27 pm
People who "protest" by not voting are effectively voting for the most pro-abortion, anti-family, anti-religious freedom president in history.
No, we're not. The meme that not voting or voting third party is the same as a vote for Obama is simply wrong. A vote for Obama is a vote for Obama, and nothing else is.
March 7, 2012 at 3:32 pm
I'm not ready to throw in the towel on Rick yet. What he needs is help. I read about people being in support of him, but are you sending money, if you can? Are you praying for him? Are you making phone calls for him? These things are important. We can't just sit and hope. Romney is the white Obama, as a commenter above said.
It seems to me that in the numbers of Catholics voting for Romney we are seeing the schism between the American Catholic church as represented by Archbishop Wuehrl (sp?), America magazine, too many nuns, etc., and the Roman Catholic church. Our freedom of religion and our country are at stake.
March 7, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Romney is getting ready to pivot to the "middle" (i.e. left) this week. What could he POSSIBLY say that would be convincing to a pro-life, pro-family conservative that would get one to vote for him? Dullard Flip Rino can't possibly convince me to vote for him.
The most effective argument in his favor is that he's not Obama, and that STILL isn't a good enough reason for me to vote for him. I'll be voting for Virgil Goode on the Constitution Party ticket.
And what Paul says above goes for me, too. Right on, Paul. A vote for Obama is a vote for Obama. NOTHING else qualifies as such. A vote for a 3rd-party candidate who is a solid pro-life conservative, shares my values, and is a personal friend is a vote for Virgil Goode, NOT Barack Obama.
By the way, I can't think of a better definition of "wasting your vote" than to vote for a candidate you don't like and who doesn't share your values merely because he's NOT the other guy. Voting for Romney would be "wasting" my vote.
March 7, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Picture Romney raising his right hand on the Capitol steps on a beautiful winter day next January. Picture the dejected Obamas getting into the helicopter and leaving Washington, one hopes, forever. Does that help? Kitt
March 7, 2012 at 4:22 pm
Romneycare is Obamacare filled with penalties for not participating. Romneycare was based on Hilliarycare and Hillary wanted to put doctors in federal prison for two years if they dared treat and cure a sick person. Obamacare is not about health, obamacare is about power over you and your money, ie. your possessions and your life. It is time for a whiskey Rebellion. If Hillary Clinton is on the ticket for Obama, run, do not walk, run away or you might join Vince Foster.
March 7, 2012 at 4:39 pm
"Picture Romney raising his right hand on the Capitol steps on a beautiful winter day next January."
And what part of that is supposed to help convince someone? You would have been better off just mentioning the dejected Obamas flying away forever without reference to Obama Lite ready to step in and take his place.
Again, the only argument for Romney is that he's not Obama, and even that isn't good enough.
March 7, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Pat,
You don't, in fact, need convincing. The reality is that you…and me…and every single other person in this country who has any semblance of decency…is going to vote for whomever the non-Obama candidate is in the presidential election. Period. And Romney knows this. He hasn't convinced you yet, and don't count on anything changing soon.
March 7, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Wonder how many losses it will take for the establishment to figure out that you can't just assume the base will show up?
March 7, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Foxfier, have you no "semblance of decency"? Apparently, neither do Paul Zummo nor I.