Whether Santorum won or lost by 1,000 votes, the end result would be the same: 7 delegates for Santorum and 7 for Romney. I`m not seeing the incentive for fraud over a couple hundred votes.
As the last conservative standing vs. Romney, Santorum gave him one hell of a fight that he wasn`t close to expecting. This will give Rick huge momentum in the coming primaries.
Actually Washington Times website has delegates 13 Romney, 12 Santorum... None for anyone else. I wonder what the rules are with different sites saying different things
“Whether Santorum won or lost by 1,000 votes, the end result would be the same: 7 delegates for Santorum and 7 for Romney. I`m not seeing the incentive for fraud over a couple hundred votes.”
PR.
It takes away the “Santorum beats Romney!” headline.
And the Santorum campaign gets a huge boost under the sheets for money, venues and endorsements that will hold their fire for a while.
REALITY: 7 Romney, 7 Santorum, 7 Paul--so it's a tie...nothing changed in the delegate race, except Perry and Bachman voters are going to recede and vote for who next? Romney? Not likely.
PR VALUE: Read the headlines this morning: "Romney narrowly beats Santorum" "Romney edges past Santorum"
People (outside of FR) who pay little attention hear "That goodhair rich dude just barely beat who? Who is this Santorum guy?"
Will Santorum be able to build on it while Mittens is going all out but just barely treading water?
Meanwhile the caterwauling on FR is hilariously sad! My guy lost by a couple votes! Corrupt! Cheats! Well then how the hell did Paul get that many votes? Sometimes a cucumber is just a cucumber folks. If even Huntsman was out, Santorum "wins". What's the diff?
True, and I don't see the incentive, either. Romney was ahead in Clinton Cty. all evening, and that is likely where he made up the difference; meager, yes, but a win is a win. That said, the delegates ARE what matters, and Santorum had a remarkable showing.
At least I got a laugh out of the Soledad O'Brien and Romney interview on CNN this morning. She, who suffers a perseveration disorder called "stuck on Hispanic", and looks like she's hoarding nuts for the winter, could barely contain herself over Romney's alleged lack of support for Dream Act.