E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSBOSTON -- Mitt Romney's campaign gathered the national press corps in their campaign war room this morning to deliver a simple message: It would take an "act of God" for any candidate not named Mitt Romney to win the Republican nomination.
The Boston-based campaign projected confidence in Romney's ability to win the nomination given the emerging delegate math in the campaign following last night's Super Tuesday contests.
"We will get to 1,144 whether it's on someone else’s timeline, or on our timeline," said one top Romney aide. "We will get to 1,144 and be the Republican nominee."
The background briefing with several members of the campaign's senior staff was emblematic of Romney's campaign: no grand flourishes, just business, math and message, with aides asserting the calendar was ill-suited to any candidate looking to eat into Romney's delegate lead.
Looking ahead to a primary calendar where the only remaining true winner-take-all states appear to favor Romney -- Delaware, Utah, New Jersey and the District of Columbia (where Rick Santorum is not on the ballot) -- the advisers tried to slowly close the door on Santorum and Newt Gingrich, who they said had little to no opportunity left to close the delegate gap.
Other delegate-heavy states like California and Texas (the latter thought to be less friendly to Romney) are winner-take-all by congressional district, which all but guarantees their large delegate hauls' being split among candidates, rather than awarding a large haul to a single GOP hopeful. One Romney aide said one would have to "bend the laws of reality" to see Gingrich or Santorum making a significant dent in Romney's lead in those states.
"There’s not a lot of Floridas left out there, no more Arizonas, no more Virginias. There’s just no more big chunks of delegates to go get. So whether it's a one-, two-, three- or four-way race, you’re still going to have people bunched up there," said one Romney aide, dismissing a question about whether a smaller field might make Romney's path more difficult.
Romney captured 65 percent of the available delegates on Super Tuesday, pushing his total to 339 pledged delegates, according to NBC News projections, out of the 1,144 needed to secure the nomination. A campaign spokesperson also said the campaign had raised $11.5 million in February, yet again outpacing every other Republican candidate. They did not, however, disclose the amount of cash left on hand after bruising and expensive contests in Michigan and Ohio.
Taken together, the campaign hopes math, if not ideology, will help their candidate consolidate a Republican base still resistant to his nomination in some quarters. Romney has thus far failed to win a culturally Southern state (Virginia and Florida notwithstanding) or to convince the self-identified "very conservative" Republican voters that he is the man best suited to challenge President Obama in the fall.
One aide argued that even if Romney never fully wins over rural conservatives, he would end up with their support in November, in part because such voters are the most likely to be strongly opposed to the president's re-election.
Romney aides dismissed the persistent narrative of their candidate as a weak front-runner, unable to connect and failing to garner the support of independent voters -- noting that he won states as diverse as Vermont, Alaska and Ohio last night, and pointing to polling from 1992, which showed then-Gov. Bill Clinton's favorability ratings upside down.
"If I remember correctly, he served two terms," said one aide.
Asked directly when they would begin working behind the scenes to convince the Gingrich and Santorum campaigns to see the math their way, one Romney adviser responded bluntly: "Now."
Leave a Comment:
Weak-minded men always drag god into their fight. Romney should retire and volunteer to help cleanup fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. Not even sure if he's qualified to do that!
lol
apparently you didn't get a copy of Obama's CV before the hope and changey nonsense.
He used his French speaking skills and 1 dollar a day to try to convert them from Christianity to Mormonism.
He said he thought it was less dangerous than trying to convert French Speaking Vietnam to capitalism.
My hero, Willard "chicken hawk" Romney.
It would take an act of Satan to win chicken hawk, war monger, pathological liar Romney the white house.
People who dislike Romney, dislike him for one reason and only one reason although many will not admit it and use other excuses like his wealth or Bain Capital history. They do not like him because he is Mormon. It is that simple and yet so ludicrous that this would or should ever be an issue with any candidate.
Some people just feel the need to bash religion even though it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with them.
I consider myself a religious person and believe in God and personally know many Mormons. I can tell you without a doubt that these people are as honest and caring as they come. Although some people disagree with their way of life like not smoking or drinking but they are some of the best people I have ever known. They are always willing to lend a hand and never take anything in return.
Sure Mormons seem weird to some people but they have the right to practice their religion and if that means wearing "magic underwear" as some immature people like to put it, then so be it.
Romney does not represent the religion and is not a spokesperson for them. He is a legitimate contender for the nomination and has a good chance at beating Obama in November so people need to get behind him because of who he is and the experience he brings to the table. Don't vote for other people because you do not like how he looks or how much money he has. He can't change how he looks and he damn sure earned the money he has.
He has the determination and ability to get this country back on track to where it needs to be.
Nope couldn't care less about religion and I've bashed several people here for dismissing Romney over being a Mormon. I just think he's a tool who will lead the country to ruin.
Romney is not a moron. He figured out a way to transfer 20 million to each of his kids without paying any taxes. Few people have been able to figure this one out.
I am pretty sure God has better things to do than worry about our petty political squabbles ......No I take that back ....I'm certain.
I love this friendly rivalry! Such comity. I just hope that GM re-starts Volt production soon so that the President can by his in 2017.
Wow, is he obnoxoius and arrogant!
Which makes him a fool.
All the flip flopping. All the lying. All the betrayal of past supporters. All the betrayal of himself.
All for nothing.
dear Mitt's campaign: look up the word "hubris" and what happens when people start slinging that "only God can stop me now" stuff around...
"It would take an "act of God" for any candidate not named Mitt Romney to win the Republican nomination." Or his mouth or his arrogance or his record or his "likes to fire people" while he gets rich and pays only 14% income tax and ships American jobs overseas, or his wanting GM and Ford and Chrysler and Detroit to go bankrupt, or his inability to do the job better than or even get elected against Obama. The only thing that has gotten him this far is cash and dirty politics. He's been spending 10 times any of his rivals and only squeaking by. Has the GOP even considered what he's going to be up against with Obama's record (remember who killed Bin Laden) and money? Santorum stands a slight chance of appealing to the independents and middle class. Romney: 0%.
Don't Tempt Me, Willard!!!
"GOD" is the only word the republicans ever utter (and they do it constantly) that never changes.
Here we go again with Romney's foot in mouth disease.
Only Robomney care can cure this ;-)
Romney is the white male candidate. Everyone else, if he wins either lick boots or watch your back.
How I love these mature, friendly exchanges! Such comity! I only hope GM renews Volt production soon, so that the President can by his in 2017. Cheers to all my friends at MSNBC!
What's "comity"??
Correction - "buy" his
Turn Up The Heat Mitt ! Mitt is the only candidate we have that can get O'Bumma Outa' The Whitehouse !!
Obama is toast.
Burnt toast that nobody wants to eat or even smell anymore. He has given up any attempt of prolonging the pretense of being a leader. We could all see that he was just going through the motions before. Now, that is even too much for him. Moochelle must find him curled up in the corner of their luxurious bedroom, sucking his thumb, mumbling over and over....it all Bush's fault, it's all Bush's fault.
This is the "Commander in Chief"??
Getting rid of this loser will be a huge relief. Like passing gas.
To bad the only GOP candidate that can actually beat president Obama is Ron Paul. If Romney wins the nom. there really isn't much reason to jump thru all the hoops. There is NO WAY he can win. He can't even garner his own parties support. I myself will vote for Ron Paul if possible, if not I have no choice but to vote for Obama. I would prefer Ron Paul to all, but the others are more of the same. The GOP is losing it's way badly and in risk of never coming back.
You'll probably get your chance. Most people think that Ron Paul will run on a Libaterian ticket.
He must have forgotten about the power of the American voter.
I think the Romney campaign should keep in mind that they are running against Rick "God is my prison bitch" Santorum.
All joking aside though. I believe that Romney will be the Republican nominee. I'm not so sure he'll get the 1144 delegates though. As I've said in other posts I expect that Gingrich will extort a second spot on the ticket in exchange for his delegates.
Don't worry there is still plenty of time for Mitt to fall flat on his face.....
Romneytards are loosers, hahahaha
Asked directly when they would begin working behind the scenes to convince the Gingrich and Santorum campaigns to see the math their way, one Romney adviser responded bluntly "now."
Don't be bossy. It will make Mitt look like he's rich, titled, and entitled.
A little bit pretentious? Do you think god (who supposedly resides on the planet Kolob) really cares about who is the Republican candidate?
Similar words were uttererd about the Titanic
"Mr. Grinch (GOP), the words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote: Stink (Romney), stank (Santorum), stunk (Gingrich)!"
http://www.hark.com/clips/kksrpfwbbl-stink-stank-stunk