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Will Mitt Romney face a protest vote for the remainder of the Republican primary?
The former Massachusetts governor is all but the presumptive GOP presidential nominee after his main challenger, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, suspended his campaign on Tuesday. Romney faces a clear path to the nomination, and only token opposition from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul in the remaining primaries.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
There's little question Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be the nominee; the bigger question involves whether conservative voters will rally behind his campaign.
There’s little question Romney will be the nominee; the bigger question involves whether the conservative voters with whom Romney has famously struggled this primary season, will rally behind his campaign.
One of the best ways to measure whether conservatives have acceded to the reality of Romney’s nomination will come in the 19 remaining caucuses and primaries. Romney’s likely to win most – if not all – of those contests. Whether he’ll be able to run up the score is a different matter.
If history’s any guide, Romney should look to win at least roughly 70 percent in the remaining contests.
Arizona Sen. John McCain ended his 2000 presidential campaign on March 9, leaving only token opposition to George W. Bush in the form of Alan Keyes for the rest of that primary cycle.
Aside from the contests on the very next day, March 10, when Bush won the Colorado primary with 65 percent and the Utah primary with 63 percent, Bush won all but one of the caucuses and primaries with at least 70 percent of the vote.
The only primary in which Bush fell below that bellwether was the March 21 primary in Illinois, which he won with 67 percent of the vote.
McCain, in his own march to the GOP nomination in 2008, was seen as the prohibitive favorite for the nomination after Romney ended his bid that year on Feb. 7, after Super Tuesday. McCain solidified his hold on the primary after former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee ended his campaign on March 5.
Similarly to Bush, McCain didn’t fall once below the 70 percent threshold after that point.
In Pennsylvania, which held its primary on April 22, 2008, McCain won 73 percent of the vote. The only time McCain matched the 70 percent marker – the Mendoza Line, of sorts, of Republican primary enthusiasm – was in the May 27 Idaho primary.
That’s not even to mention that, in most circumstances, McCain and Bush each performed much better than the low 70th percentile.
The Keystone State was where Romney had been expected to face his stiffest opposition of the five states hosting primaries on April 24 this year, at least until Santorum dropped out of the race.
Like McCain, Romney’s struggles in winning over skeptical conservatives have been well-documented.
Even in Wisconsin, the state which Romney won most recently and secured his status as the campaign’s frontrunner, he basically battled Santorum to a draw among “very conservative” voters, almost a third of that primary’s turnout, according to exit polls. Evangelical Christians also broke for Santorum, as did the 20 percent of voters who said it was most important quality in a candidate was that he was a true conservative.
The race may no longer be competitive, but the names of Santorum, Gingrich and Paul will remain on the ballot for most of the remaining contests. Forty-eight percent of non-Romney supporters said in an April 10 Washington Post/ABC News poll that the former Massachusetts governor would be their second choice in a nominee, but 21 percent said Gingrich and another 11 percent said Paul.
There are still lingering questions about when, and in what manner, Santorum might endorse and appear with Romney. That could go a long way toward bringing on board some of the conservatives who harbor lingering doubts about the all-but-presumptive Republican nominee.
The former Massachusetts governor has eagerly begun to pivot toward the general election fight with President Obama. But if Gingrich and Paul’s share of the vote ticks upward substantially, it could put the Romney campaign on uneasy footing, forcing it to continue courting conservatives while also waging a war against Obama for independents.
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Get your heads on straight Conservatives....Ob la mm r has and is ruining this country....in essence we are one step from being a third world nation pandering to 10-12% of our populace....a populace that like Ob la mm r blames slavery for everything....read a little history....their are cultures that have suffered and do suffer more than the enslaved blacks in America....by the way the Africans sold their fellow Africans into slavery....for the most part those that were sold were not the cream of the crop.....Get on with your life guys and stop whinning.
Romney is a draft dodger, for God's sake. By serving as a missionary for the Mormon Church during the Vietnam War, Romney made sure he would not be drafted from the years 1966 until 1969 (when the war ended, and putting self-interest and a whacky religion ahead of public service). This exemption from service still stands today for Mormon missionaries. Romney could have been an Army Missionary, but went as far from danger as he could, to France and ate Freedom Fries while our boys in uniform lost their lives defending their country. Romney believes that war is necessary...for other people to fight. Most draftees in the Vietnam days were from lower-middle class neighborhoods, and enlistees to this day are mostly from the poor of America. As Romney said in 2012, "I'm not worried about the poor." Of course not! He isn't one! He must have been thinking: "Praise the Lord, and let the poor pass the hand grenades for me! And give me some more Freedom Fries, Pierre." And he recently endorsed his sons for NOT joining the military! Enough said. He's a conservative? Sure, and my dog speaks Arabic. Woof salaam woof!
Thak God for Abraham Lincoln, Gen. Grant and Gen. Sherman!
Within these ideological struggles that a compromised media amplifies -letting what is most important for every American collapse from under their feet based on what is least important - to hold together the simplest ideas from the most obnoxious attacks within the deep ignorance and decay they frame their talent against...
...as they suppress the most brutal destruction of people by using the same program that is causing the destruction under pretext of isolating threads of proof that don't exist-since it would be a violation of law to simply tell people they have to keep their mouth's shut so it is better to frame investigations and put the President in a position of power by using the ass sniffing component of the same program causing horrific suffering to lower entire environments of other innocent citizens into platforms probing each other against the same intent of keeping their mouths shut...
...turning a legal protection into a liability, similar to the fact that Obama needs to keep pointless war crimes going to make it look like they never occurred, since the end is the same but the invasive maneuvering to accomplish that end is worse than what people in a dictatorship would experience...
...as the very people that have the same exact program running through their heads-under fantasy land pretext of isolating something within the environments they infer threat and control over-simply suppress its deeper and more brutal use that creates all these fantasy land pretexts in the first place and that is people being baked from the inside out being forced to make these statements with the hope they don't get traction outside the rock solid environments suppressing or contributing to it..
...through all this mind positioning -that simply conceal the President's ability to destroy whom ever he wants for any reason he wants with a less than conclusive weapon while its lighter spectrum creates cause for people to probe each other to isolate threads that don't exist with the intent to shut people's mouth's down to its deeper use in the center of these productions, your anemic mind has to stop for a second...and wonder where that light display comes from and what level of utter shamefully activity triggered it in the first place...
Come on grown ups...
Huh?
I would laugh if Santorum decided to screw Romney over one last time by endorsing Gingrich.
I'm sure that Gingrich will get a boost from conservatives that want anyone but Romney at this point either way.
Everyone knows that it is expected for Santorum to tow the party line and fall dutifully in place behind Romney. It would just be hilarious if he decided to be his own man instead.
At this point Santorum endorsing Romney means nothing. If he endorsed anyone else it would paint a huge picture that Romney would definitely not like.
Santorum should endorse Newt, it would be the right thing to do. As of now this republican supports obambi as long as that fake fool ramney is there. my whole family will be voting for obambi. We were fixed first on Herman Cain then Santorum. But no way Jose romney, this moron-i god.
Well, I'd say that the Republican choices this time around have been pretty weak. I wouldn't have voted for any of them. But if I had to vote for one I'd probably go with Gingrich. Sure he's political sleaze, but at least he knows how to get things done in Washington.
Yep, The Vulture is toast with the womemen vote in2012.T least the Progressives work for a living. They support their Government,support the Constution,Pay taxes,educated their children,encourage their children to serve in our UNITED STATES MILITARY.
We Americans didn't hide out in Paris France like Romney did during the Viet Nam War. The Vulture Romney should apologize to AMERICANS for not serving in Viet Nam
People like him will never apologize for not serving. They will try and convince you that some other alternative they chose was just as patriotic. But they will throw someone else's son in harms way without blinking an eye.
Romney's spin is going nowhere. Romney said: " Obama seeks to replace our merit-based society with an entitlement society". Proof positive the TEA-GOP-Republican establishment would kill every Social Program we have in place like, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, while giving away special perks and tax breaks to the top mega-millionaires and billionaires. The top 20% earners would receive a 5.4% tax reduction of $16,134.00 and top 1% earners would receive an average $725,000.00 reduction in taxes. The bottom 20%, earning less than $17,000.00 would see their federal taxes increase 1.3%. Romney and the TEA-GOP-Republican's are dead-set on protecting the super affluent and their taxation benefits.
Now we have the right-to-lifers backing Romney.
Romney is so disconnected, I for-see a landslide for president Obama.
Yes, we need to respect the choices a woman makes, irregardless of my or your own religious beliefs. We all do not go the the same church. I abhor abortion and if a woman chooses to abort, it is her decision and her husband if applicable, alone with the doctor. She will answer to God himself. No politician, no matter what his religious beliefs are, has any right to force a woman to take a medical procedure(Ultrasound/Sonogram). Period!
We have listened to Romney and his minions when neither he or the others on stage intervened when a soldier, in theater, spoke of DADT from the field. This soldier was booed by the audience and no one came to his defense. Your husband and all who were on stage were and still are totally disconnected.
This is more than a generational gap for Romney, but rather a complete disconnect with the every day man and woman. If Romney does not repudiate and disavow the rants and flagrant vilification of women with required medical procedures put forth by the others in his party, he does not deserve any woman' vote. President Obama's economic policies have helped women with:
(a) The Health Care Bill working for the individual and not the insurance giants,
(b) Allowing children to stay on parents insurance until they are 25 years of age,
(c) Millions of Americans stand to receive insurance company rebates by the end of the summer, as a result of a new requirement in the federal health care overhaul that strictly governs how insurers spend their cash.
Romney's complete disconnect continues with "I will veto any "Dream plan Act if elected"! The Hispanic/Latino vote is out the window with this comment.
Then there's "I would have let the auto industry go bankrupt" statement, signalling his contempt for union employees in America. Romney is better versed in taking over an industry, bastardizing it, selling off parts to his advantage, firing employees and scrapping the rest at at profit if possible.
Romney and the TEA-GOP-Republican's are dead-set on protecting the super affluent and their taxation benefits.
Romney is so disconnected, I for-see a landslide for president Obama.
I seriously doubt that the jesus freaks that voted for Sanscrotum will ever vote for that "cult member" Romney. (nyah, nyah. My cult is bigger than YOUR cult.)
Poor Romney. No women's votes (due to the GOP, not necessarily him). No religious fanatics (other than morman) votes. No hispanic votes. No black votes. Just millionaires and billionaires votes, and I don't believe there are enough of them to win. How embarrassing for him.
From what I've been reading, looks like Gingrich may be out of the race, he's broke LOL. Now it's just Romney and Ron Paul heh heh.
Go Ron Paul!!!!!!!!!!!
People that were donating to Santorum may decide to donate to Gingrich instead. I.E. the conservatives that can not stand Romney and will cling to any hope that someone, anyone, can unseat him as the Republican candidate.
It would not surprise me to see a surge in Gingrich's funds in the near future.
Does Mitt Romney have duel citizenship, US and Mexico? Wonder if that is true or not? Can he be legally be elected President of the United States? First Obama birther momevement and now the GOP contender has a question of duel citizenship? What's going on here?
We apply a double standard in the United States. If your parents and American citizens it doesn't matter where in the world you are born, you are given citizenship automatically. Thus, even though Romney's father was born in Mexico he inherited American citizenship from his own grandfather who fled the United States when the Mormon church banned polygomy in the United States. Because he passed his American citizenship down to Romney's grandfather who passed it down to Romney's father. Who used that dual citizenship to return to the United States.
As far as when and where Romney himself was born. I have no idea. But by the way that we inherit citizenship in this country I have no doubt that Romney is an American citizen.
I just question his ability to understand how the average American thinks.
I'm curious to see what will happen when the first old fool at a Romney event gets the microphone and starts spouting off about Obama being a Muslim. Will Romney take the microphone away, as McCain did, or will he let the old fool rant on and discredit them both? He is depending on these idiots to elect him. What's he going to do?
Hey, just have Obozo eat a BLT on television, and that one will be settled....
The dye is cast, hold your noses all you right wingers and stay lockstep in line and vote for the "chosen" one. He will not let the rich down, it will be more tax cut's more loopholes, and deregulation for everyone! Whoopie!
But he will defund PP, so thousands of women can go without healthcare.
He has already said the Ryan plan was marvelous, even though it turns medicare into a voucher program, deep cuts to all programs, for poor,children and elderly.
And it adds to the deficit, it's a classic!
The good thing is, Romney doesn't pass the smell test!
Obama/Biden 2012
you know that Obama is also buying votes like crazy, right? Obama is about the same as Romney anyway.
You betcha he will,...Romney is "UNELECTABLE" !!
He's not really a conservative's conservative,....and he is phony as hell. He speaks very poorly of the GOP if THIS is the best they have to offer,....
....or as everybody knows - they allow him to just BUY the GOP nomination.What a sham and mockery and travesty and a joke. WILLARD has nearly $200 million, so he bulldozes the competition with his cash to bring them down.
MITT IS NOT THE NOMINEE BECAUSE HE IS GREAT,...HE HAS BOUGHT THE SUCCESS HE HAS. What a PERFECT synbol of what the GOP is all about and wants to bring to America (social Darwinism / financial dominance by the upper class).
MONEY MAKES YOU THE BEST. THIS IS THE GOP MESSAGE vis a vis MITT ROMNEY.
Additionally, mormons believe in polygamy. This will be the CROWNING JEWEL in the GOPs ongoing WAR ON WOMEN. With God at his side,...Mitt will put ALL American women in their place in the same way mormons do with their women.
I am telling you ladies. DO NOT VOTE FOR THIS GUY. He IS NOT your advocate.
Be VERY afraid of Mitt Romney. He is a highly polished, anti-woman, pro corporate welfare snake oil salesman.
VOTE Obama 2012.
the same can be said about Obama, together with his own super pac.
You betcha he will,...Romney is "UNELECTABLE" !!
He's not really a conservative's conservative,....and he is phony as hell. He speaks very poorly of the GOP if THIS is the best they have to offer,....
....or as everybody knows - they allow him to just BUY the GOP nomination.What a sham and mockery and travesty and a joke. WILLARD has nearly $200 million, so he bulldozes the competition with his cash to bring them down.
MITT IS NOT THE NOMINEE BECAUSE HE IS GREAT,...HE HAS BOUGHT THE SUCCESS HE HAS. What a PERFECT synbol of what the GOP is all about and wants to bring to America (social Darwinism / financial dominance by the upper class).
MONEY MAKES YOU THE BEST. THIS IS THE GOP MESSAGE vis a vis MITT ROMNEY.
Additionally, mormons believe in polygamy. This will be the CROWNING JEWEL in the GOPs ongoing WAR ON WOMEN. With God at his side,...Mitt will put ALL American women in their place in the same way mormons do with their women.
I am telling you ladies. DO NOT VOTE FOR THIS GUY. He IS NOT your advocate.
Be VERY afraid of Mitt Romney. He is a highly polished, anti-woman, pro corporate welfare snake oil salesman.
The new GOP agenda is to destroy democracy and replace it with a corporate run country. This is 100% unAmerican. They are lying and misinforming to get people on board.
Be prepared to bond together 99%ers, and fight this menace before it destroys what we have built.
VOTE Obama 2012.
The presidential campaign race is beginning,...rise up 99%.
You don't need to live in a tent.
You need computers and social media.
MAKE THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE HEARD !!
MAKE THE GOP stand down and listen.
The people aren't asking any more. WE ARE TELLING THE RICH CORPORATE AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS,...WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK !!!!
Our government is not the enemy. YOU ARE !!!
YOU GREEDY SOBs ARE ,...and HAVE BEEN THE PROBLEM.
We will re-elect Obama and the proper officials,...and they will hold you accountable,...they will hold you at bay,...and they will demand RIGHTS FOR OUR PEOPLE.
YOU GODDAMN SELF_SERVING BASTARDS.
The 99% are who do the labor that make YOU wealthy. We are tired of being shut out of the equation.
We hear about record profits,...and stagnant wages
We hear about obscene bonuses,...and disappearing benefits,...
It is clear that you are unhappy with MOST of the profit and you intend to take it all.
The 99% are uniting against you,...FOR BETTER OR WORSE, because corporate America has made it clear that trusting them does not work.
How many of us are even getting a 3% raise this year ? How about the VPs and directors ? The owner,...? Right.
....and they are not going to take care of ANYONE but themselves voluntarily.
WE NEED A STRONG MIDDLE CLASS. WE NEED THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET. These two things are NOT on the GOP to-do list.
Vote democrat this November. Bote Obama/Biden.
This is probably old news but I heard that Gingrich wrote a $500 check yesterday for the filing fee in the Utah primary and it bounced. Isn't that sad? Although, I don't understand why he would even give the Utah primary a shot considering the Mormon population. How the once mighty have fallen.
I am going to make this simple for you. I was a republican, still am a social conservative. But up until yesterday was going to be republican, today OBAMA 2012. Romney is not a good man.
OBAMA 2012
Congratulations Arnold. Welcome and keep your head up. These conservatives can get a little crazy.
Romney is a draft dodger, for God's sake. By serving as a missionary for the Mormon Church during the Vietnam War, Romney made sure he would not be drafted from the years 1966 until 1969 (when the war ended, and putting self-interest and a whacky religion ahead of public service). This exemption from service still stands today for Mormons. Romney could have been an Army Missionary, but went as far from danger as he could, to France and ate Freedom Fries while our boys in uniform lost their lives defending their country. Romney believes that war is necessary...for other people to fight. Most draftees in the Vietnam days were from lower-middle class neighborhoods, and enlistees to this day are mostly from the poor of America. As Romney said in 2012, "I'm not worried about the poor." Of course not! He isn't one! He must have been thinkling : "Praise the Lord, and let the poor pass the hand grenades for me! And give more some of those Freedom Fries, Pierre." And he recently endorsed his sons for NOT joining the military! Enough said. He's a conservative? Sure, and my dog speaks Arabic. Woof salaam woof!
The vast majority of Republicans and independents, and a good number of disgruntled Democrats will be backing Mitt Romney all the way to the White House.
Liberals are in a no-win situation. They can't brag about Obama's horrible record, so the strategy is to attack Romney. This is already wearing thin, and is beginning to have that magical negative effect on the libs. Everytime the left tries to float an ever more ridiculous wedge issue against the esteemed Republican nominee, the more stupid and desperate they look.
We should be discussing President Romney's agenda for the first of his eight years in office.
Edward is whistling in the dark or woke from his coma in 2008--Just to get you up to date 25,000 casualties in Iraq, 3000 dead in world trade bombing, Financial collapse resulting in Tarp, afew names from that period Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld,Greenspan, Bin Laden. Well at least Osama Bin Laden dead and we still make autos in the U.S
Sorry Ed, but it is the GOP that is the master of wedge issues. Think God, guns, and gays.
Keep up the good lies, r doing great
"Opprobrium" Mitt, Flip Flopper !
I think you'll see all conservatives and darn near all independents cast protest votes... against the class-envy wealth-redistribution Marxist... Obama can only wish that he could return to 2008 when he had to record to hide from....
Non-partisan
I am not a Democrat, I am an Inde
Over 2 straight years of economic growth
Over 2 straight years of job growth
Wars ended
Bin Laden dead
Kaddafi dead
Leadbetter act
This list goes on and on and on
Playing ignorant does not change FACTS!!!
The Republican candidates are struggling to get 3-4-5% turnout in the Primaries
They will be struggling to get 10-12% turnout in the General
None of these clowns are qualified to be dogcatchers let alone President
Isn't it "fair" or "fairness" when everyone pays the same amount based what they make??? Why do people who make more money have to pay more. I'll tell you why, because back when Woodrow Wilson and the Progressives took over the country they deemed that taxes should be progressive. This whole issue of fairness is a sham. The 47% of people who pay no Federal Income Tax have no skin in the game and a vested interest in taking more of your hard earned money to feather their own nests.
If only they had a nest to feather. They are just trying to survive.
Romney will probably win the rest of the states, but by how much we need to wait and see. If the general is held without cheating or voter suppression, Obama should win. But that is to be seen also.
Why the hell would anybody vote for another elitist puppet like Romney??? You are so ass-backwards. He's only gonna bring this country to it's final end, just like Ofrauda. And when that time comes, when you're running for cover, ducking the flying bullets while running from Johnny Law into the hills, because he's been given instructions to kill your family, only then will you realize you blew it by not voting for the old guy. Yep, that's right, Ron Paul. The only candidate that has the balls to fend off the big government that's all but buried us. Goodluck with that.
Romney didn't have the women vote when he ran for senate, him and Kennedy had 49% a piece with men voters.
The smart repubs are waiting for 2016!
That's why no jeb bush, christie or other this time and why is that? since obama is such a loser as the repubs say, which should've made it a cake walk with Jeb Bush and mark rubio as vice-president