Mitt Romney has a clear claim to a win on the popular vote in this week’s primary, but what matters more is the delegate distribution. It appears increasingly likely Romney and Santorum will tie for delegates. At best, Romney may walk off with only one extra delegate which as a practical matter is still pretty much a tie for Santorum who can rightly claim a near victory at worst.
And I am the only one that noticed what a mess this whole GOP primary process has been? First Iowa, then Maine and now Michigan, days after the votes have been cast can’t come up with clear numbers for the tallies.
On the bright side for Romney, he did gain some momentum from Tuesday’s contests. Latest national polling shows him with a double digit lead. Not so sure that will help him on Super Tuesday though. It’s a only a few days away and the polling in those states is decidedly mixed. If Romney doesn’t win big then, I wonder if the media will start asking, “Why can’t Romney seal the deal?” You know, like they did with President Obama back in 2008.
Update: Well, no sooner had I posted this than I see the state GOP made their decision. They’re awarding Romney both at-large delegates giving him a 16-14 win. Unsurprisingly, there’s some grumbling from the Santorum camp about the establishment Republicans changing the rules to protect Romney. Nonetheless, Santorum has nothing to be embarrassed about. Coming out with only a two delegate margin isn’t that impressive a win since as the “native son” candidate, Michigan should have been a Romney romp.
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