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Ron Paul, who spoke shortly after Santorum, was extremely excited at his “very strong second place” showing and reminded viewers that his campaign is focused on winning delegates. He refused to back down on foreign policy and civil liberties, ridiculing the Patriot Act and overseas wars. He said that the U.S. Constitution only allows gold and silver to be legal tender and pointed out that a poll shows him in second place nationally.
Mitt Romney congratulated Santorum on his two victories before the Colorado results came in. He emphasized that he is not a Washington insider, hinting at Santorum and Gingrich. In recent days, the Romney campaign criticized Santorum for his use of earmarks, and his speech last night reflected this shift. For the most part, however, Romney stuck to his general election theme, drawing on quotes from Obama on how to “measure progress.” Romney gave a series of statistics to argue that, according to Obama’s own definition of “progress,” he has failed.
Newt Gingrich did not give a speech, but he did hold a feisty press conference after Romney’s victory in Nevada on February 4. He argued that he can win enough delegates to match Romney by April 3 when Texas holds its primary. He took a sharply negative tone towards Romney, calling him a “George Soros-approved” candidate that is running the “most dishonest, dirty campaign I’ve seen in American politics.” Gingrich made it clear that he will go after Romney hard during their next debate on February 22.
The next significant event comes on February 11 when the results from Maine’s caucus will be released. Romney is widely expected to win there, followed by Ron Paul. However, media fanfare will be consumed with Santorum’s comeback and Romney won’t get a bounce in the polls. After that comes the February 22 debate.
The next contests come on February 28 when Arizona and Michigan hold their primaries. In 2008, Romney lost Arizona to Senator John McCain by 13%, but he currently leads by 28% in the RealClearPolitics poll average. Romney won Michigan, where his father was governor, by 9% in 2008 and currently leads by 10% in the poll average. It is assumed that Romney will win both states, but last night’s results showed us how unpredictable the 2012 Republican presidential nomination race is.
The nature of the race is leading to increasing speculation that Romney could head into the convention with only a plurality of delegates, leading to a brokered convention. It is too early to make a prediction of that kind, but with a race this volatile, anything can happen.
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