Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Santorum Scores Another Double Victory, But Not By Much

The results from Alabama and Mississippi are mostly in.

In Alabama, with 96.3% of precincts reporting, Santorum has 34.5% of the vote and 16 delegates. Gingrich has 29.3% of the vote and 12 delegates. Romney has 29% and 10 delegates.

In Mississippi, with 98.1% reporting, Santorum has 32.9% and 13 delegates. Gingrich has 31.3% and 12 delegates. Romney has 30.3% and 12 delegates.

This is not the kind of win Santorum would have liked, by any stretch of the imagination. With delegates split in these two contests as close as three candidates could probably muster, the results of the Hawaii caucus (which will allocate 20 delegates) is likely to put Romney ahead for delegates picked up in today’s contests, despite Santorum’s double victory in the deep south.

Santorum now adds Alabama and Mississippi to his list of southern victories, along with Tennessee. Gingrich had hoped to establish himself as the Southern favorite after his wins in South Carolina and his home state of Georgia, but to no avail. Still, while many (including myself) predicted that Gingrich would exit if he lost both Alabama and Mississippi at this stage, it’s unlikely he will feel compelled to leave after picking up 24 delegates, just 5 short of Santorum’s 29.

Romney continues to play horribly in the South. His “y’all” and “grits” pandering didn’t win him any votes, but he still managed to perform moderately well, picking up 22 delegates. In many respects, it’s unimportant whether Romney does well in the South, because the South is in the bag for the GOP ticket come November, so there’s no real worry among Republicans that there is such a lack of enthusiasm for the Massachusetts moderate.

Even before this pair of primaries, Santorum has become increasingly vocal that Gingrich should bow out. Indeed, if I were Santorum, I too would want Gingrich to get the hell out of the race. I wouldn’t be surprised (yes I would…) if Romney starts donating to the Gingrich campaign to keep it afloat if it starts to flounder, because so long as the conservative vote is split between Santorum and Gingrich, Romney is a sure-thing.

Meanwhile, in non-news, Ron Paul continues to get no love, either from the media or the GOP establishment. Hmm… what do you expect from someone who derides the “liberal media” and the traditional Republican platform? In any case, I’m happy to cover him, especially when it’s not very flattering…

And boy did Ron Paul’s campaign get kicked in their hypocritical balls. Ron Paul scored his first victory in the campaign, winning the popular vote in the Virgin Islands. Now, you might think I’m going to joke about how this isn’t surprising, given that Ron Paul’s frustrated male base is probably composed primarily of virgins, but I won’t sink that low. No, what I find to be so hilarious is Paul’s reaction to the delegate assignment.

Ron Paul’s campaign has openly and at times gleefully discussed manipulating the delegate system in states like Maine in order to get more delegates than those who actually won the popular vote. It seemed to be the Ron Paul strategy to coolly and methodically game the system in order to pick up as many delegates as possible, through any means necessary.

But when the Romney campaign managed to do just that in the Virgin Islands, picking up 7 over Ron Paul’s single delegate, I half expected the principled and consistent Paul campaign to shake their head and mutter, “Touché, you rich fuck.” Instead, they threw a hissy fit, crying “unfair” and “injustice.” While I am inclined to agree, that isn’t fair or just, and I want to see the wishes of the voters being represented… I find it hard to feel any sympathy when a cheater gets cheated.

So those are the early results and analysis, pre-Hawaii. Hawaii is expected to go to Romney, and delegates are apportioned 3 to the winner and the remaining 17 go proportionally based on caucus results. Ron Paul is expected to pick up delegates here, I assume the honest way: through strong voter support.

2 comments:

  1. Does Santorum have a chance to win the nomination? It seems like Romney will win in the end anyway, but Im hoping for Rick at least he shares some conservative values. And the polls said he could also beat Obama. We have to get that marxist out of there he is ruining the country!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Personally, I don't think Santorum has a prayer. Obviously he would disagree, but numerically, at this point, the best Santorum can hope for is a brokered convention surprise victory OR a horrible secret about Romney being revealed.

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