Romney’s Resurrection - The Road to the White House - Election 2012 - Week Ten

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Sunday, 11 March 2012 08:07

Written by Janet Walker

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Mitt Romney’s six state Super Tuesday win has resurrected his wavering campaign and propelled the GOP Presidential hopeful once again to the Republican Party’s front runner status.

USA Today Political Poll Tracker as of March 10, 2012 places Romney, leading the pack in popularity, nationally, gaining one percentage point over the week, at the top with 37.7%. Santorum’s, holding steady in the number two spot for the second week with 27.3%, Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, at 14.3% and Texas Representative Ron Paul gaining at 11.3%.

Voter’s in Super Tuesday ten state contest provided few surprises for the wildly divided Republican Party and ended with a squeaker in the much coveted Buckeye state that eventually went to Romney by a slim .8% with 37.9% of the votes over Santorum's 37.1%securing the total 66 delegates in the winner take all race. Newt Gingrich message connected wth 14.6% of Ohio voter's and Ron Paul 9.2%.

Romney, going into to Tuesday’s crucial battle, expected to clinch the public’s confidence that he is the candidate that can unseat Obama and his message can unify the divided GOP party and pull in disgruntled moderates and independents.  Not the sweep he hoped for, the former Massachusetts governor ended Tuesday’s litmus test with wins in Virginia, Vermont, Massachusetts, Idaho and Alaska.

Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania Senator and Romney’s biggest challenger, was not on the ballot in Virginia's winner take all primary, which proved to be a costly mistake for the once GOP front runner.  Santorum, with his unwavering conservative message, saw victory in key electoral states proving conservatism resonates with Middle America. Barely losing Ohio, a must win for either candidate, he cemented his spoiler status and took Oklahoma, Tennessee and North Dakota.

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, took Georgia, his home state, by a landslide. Texas Representative Ron Paul did not win the Super Tuesday Battle of Virginia he did end the day respectfully securing 40.5% of the vote against Romney’s money machine, and gained in both voter confidence and national popularity over the past week.

Kansas and Wyoming also held caucuses this week. Romney and Santorum split the two states. Santorum took Kansas with 51%; Romney, a distant second with 20.9%, Gingrich, third, with 14.4% and Paul, fourth, with 12.6%. Wyoming went to Romney with 44% of the vote; Santorum, second with 27.5%, Paul, third, with 12.5% and Gingrich, fourth, with .05%.

The 2012 Delegate Tracker has Mitt Romney with 421; Santorum, second at 181; Newt Gingrich with 107; and Ron Paul with 47 delegates toward the 1,144 needed to secure the Republican Nomination for President.

The fallout from conservative talk show Host Rush Limbaugh's “slut” statement has him in limbo as advertisers declare their continued revulsion and have pulled their support leaving him to reassure his audience that his conservative message and brand of news and information will continue.