Romney's total delegate count now stands at 521, Rick Santorum at 253, Gingrich at 136 and Ron Paul at 50. Romney has nearly half of the 1144 delegates needed to secure the nomination.
Mr. Santorum is doing his best to spin the attention away from this mathematical reality. He continues to slam Mitt Romney and insists on telling Americans that, "Romney cannot be trusted to tell the truth."
(Wow. Nice job Mr. Santorum. Have fun clearing that one up when you are forced to endorse him in a few weeks...)
Mr. Santorum's presidential bid is in real trouble. It is becoming a mathematical reality that he cannot leapfrog Mitt Romney without a brokered convention in August. A brokered convention is clearly his best chance to secure the nomination.
So what does he do from this point on? Is his campaign message, "Vote for me so I can block Mitt Romney?" Really? I question how much longer that is going to resonate.
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| Abc News Photo |
The bigger question? What compelling argument will Santorum present at the convention which will motivate hundreds of delegates to switch their allegiance from Romney to Santorum?
Santorum will undoubtedly still be trailing Romney in delegates. What case can he present to convince the Romney delegates to switch their allegiance? What is he going to say? "Please switch and give me your votes. Mitt Romney might be only 50 votes shy, but I am only 600?"
Not compelling. Not effective. Not going to happen. If his message isn't enough to wipe out Mitt Romney now, I can't imagine it will work in August either.
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The bottom line is simple and Santorum is choosing to overlook this simple fact: People are voting for Mitt Romney because they like him. These voters didn't accidentally vote for Romney. They weren't tricked. Voters have scrutinized Romney's record and more voters want him to be the Republican nominee. Period.
So, although the races are close, Mitt Romney continues to win. He has won more states, delegates, and votes than any other candidate. More people are voting for Romney over Santorum, by choice.
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| AP Photo |
The years that Mr. Santorum spent in Washington DC, voting for expensive programs, voting to raise the debt ceiling 5 times and securing $1 billion in earmarks for his home state, and defending it all now by saying that he voted against his principles to, "take one for the team" is not a record that appears to be convincing enough.
It is not convincing enough now. I am willing to bet that it won't be convincing enough in August either.
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Mr. Santorum wants Newt Gingrich to drop out of the race. He believes it will give him the support needed to win more contests. He argues that Gingrich supporters would overwhelmingly support him. Too bad that his theory isn't exactly correct. A Gallup Survey conducted last week shows that 40% of Gingrich supporters said they would pick Romney, while 39% said they would pick Santorum.
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| Evan Vucci/AP Photo |
Tomorrow is another major contest in Illinois. Santorum was quoted over the weekend saying, "If I win Illinois, I will be the nominee." So how would Santorum define a loss in Illinois? Because according to the most recent American Research Group poll, Romney has widened his lead in Illinois by 14 points.
CNN reported today that 44% of likely Illinois GOP voters support Romney compared to 30% who back Santorum. This is significant because two weeks ago, Romney's lead was only 4 points. Mitt's message appears to be resonating--Santorum's message is not. (Click here to read CNN article).
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I firmly believe that sending an "Executive" with years of "Executive" experience to lead the "Executive Branch of Government" is the best thing we could do for our country.
Mitt Romney is a unique candidate with a remarkable resume. It is time to rally. America needs Mitt.
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