Romney will probably win Ohio, but it’s going to be close.
Santorum is doing much better in Ohio than I thought. I figured Mitt had gained enough momentum to pull it out in the last few days, but maybe not. 31% reporting there, and Santorum has a lead of 10,000 votes; about 3%. Damn, but Romney may not be able to credibly claim a mandate tonight.
With 33% reporting in Ohio
Santorum 148,327 39%
Romney 135,627 35%
Gingrich 57,330 15%
Paul 33,729 9%
Anyone else wonder if Current blew their whole budget on tonight’s graphics package?
I’m starting to think maybe Santorum is going to pull out Ohio. 15,000 ahead with 38% in is starting to get to be a pretty big hill for Mitt to climb. Of course, the BIG BIG BIG news tonight is that Sarah Palin told CNN that she wouldn’t rule out being drafted at the convention.
What a vapid fool she is.
Looks like Newt has some competition in the ego contest.
I don’t know about that. Santorum already has Tennessee and Oklahoma. He’s on track as of now to win North Dakota. If he pulls out a win in Ohio then I don’t think Romney can claim anything near a mandate.
Yes, that’s my point.
OK, I’m starting to get a little nervous. I’m all for keeping the primary fight going costing a lot of money and keeping all the negative superpac adds flowing. But people I worry that Santorum might find himself with the nomination. Yes, he would be easier to beat in the general election but what if Obama gets hit by a meteor or something? I don’t care for Romney but if elected he might not be the worst president in my lifetime where Santorum is just frightening. I know of four of my friends around Ohio who crossed over and voted for Santorum. There’s a congressional race in my district that kept me voting Dem, in retrospect I’m glad I didn’t vote for Rick.
Also, I must say, with all the money Romney is spending all over the place and his suppoedly superior organization, that Santorum is able to stay close in any contest, or win, says a lot about primary voter’s disaffection for Romney.
Ah. You’re right. Sorry. I misread your post.
Romney keeps trying to bury his opponents in negative ads (the stat I heard for tonight’s contests was something like 96% negative) and it doesn’t seem to be working all that well. I don’t see how he could go all negative all the time on Obama without pissing an awful lot of people off.
With 46% reporting in Ohio
Santorum 202,633 39%
Romney 181,120 36%
Gingrich 78,667 15%
Paul 47,296 9%
I was hoping to see Gingrich come back. His resurgence should shake the field up a little bit and provide for some interesting soundbites :).
With 55% reporting in Ohio
Santorum 239,263 38%
Romney 227,804 36%
Gingrich 93,360 15%
Paul 57,949 9%
Oh snap, Santorum is…um…
damn. I can’t think of anything.
With 66% reporting in North Dakota Santorum retains his lead. I predict Santorum will win North Dakota.
I’m still in agreement with this. Even with 53% of the vote in, the projected remainder of Hamilton county alone wipes out the entirety of Santorum’s lead, and then some.
That said, it’ll still be fairly close, which is kind of embarrassing for someone with Romney’s monetary advantage.
Edit: if course, as soon as I typed that, they updated the county-by-county tally, and Romney’s Hamilton advantage has shrunk. Still, Cuyahoga rates to net Romney about 8000 votes, and Hamilton now another 5000, and Santorum’s lead is less than those 13,000.
Romney’s gaining on Santorum in Ohio
With 60% reporting
Santorum 258,922 38%
Romney 248,091 36%
Gingrich 101,441 15%
Paul 63,369 9%