Gingrich Says
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum claimed a decisive victory in the race to be the Non-Romney Republican candidate for President Tuesday night. Problem is, even with two Santorum wins in the heart of Red Country, Former Governor Mitt Romney managed to walk away as the biggest winner on the night in terms of actual delegates. Santorum claimed Alabama and Mississippi, but Romney was able to pick wins in Hawaii and the territory of American Somoa. Since Alabama and Mississippi will be awarded proportionally, Romney will likely see his lead increase despite what appeared to be a significant momentum swing for Santorum.
The math on these delegate counts gets a little murky to say the least. With committed and uncommitted delegates; super delegates, and everything else the GOP adopted from the Dem model and proportional representation; delegate projections are just that – projections. But here’s how two outlets score the race Wednesday morning.
Fox News: 495 Romney / 252 Santorum
CNN: 489 Romney / 232 Santorum
Romney did not go home empty handed because the states divide their delegates proportionally and he clinched a victory in the Hawaii caucuses by a wide margin. He took home 45 percent of the vote (and) 52 percent of that state’s delegates while Santorum trailed with 25 percent of the vote and 23 percent of the delegates.
Romney also won the small Republican caucus in American Samoa. He picked up all nine delegates in the contest in the U.S. territory located 2,300 miles south of Hawaii.
More results coverage at CNN…
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What do we make of any of this?
Wins in Alabama and Mississippi are huge for Rick Santorum. A split decision in those contests would have been a huge victory for the Romney camp and the fact that Gingrich was unable to claim either means it’s definitely time to reassess. Hawaii and Somoa? Not so much. Did you even know either was having a primary Tuesday night? How many of you even knew American Somoa got to weigh in?
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Gingrich reassessing like only Gingrich can reassess…
“We’re going all the way to Tampa!”
“One of the things tonight proved is that the elite media effort to convince the nation that Mitt Romney is inevitable just collapsed.”
“In both states, the conservative candidates got nearly 70% of the vote; and if you’re the front-runner and you keep coming in third, you’re not much of a front-runner.”
“At a time where we can forget about trying to nominate a Massachusetts moderate and start talking about when the primaries are over – and it’s clear that no one person has won – who would do the best job representing America governing and winning the election against Barack Obama.“
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