RNC’s delegate count shows Gingrich ahead of Santorum (Stand down, Rick!)

WashTimes ^ | 3-8-12 | Dinan

[VinL]

Rick Santorum may have won more primaries but the Republican National Committee's current delegate count shows former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has more bound delegates than Mr. Santorum in the race for the party's presidential nomination.

Frontrunner Mitt Romney has earned 339 delegates to the August nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., or more than the rest of the field combined, according to a chart the RNC sent to its members on Thursday.

Mr. Gingrich is second with 107 delegates, topping Mr. Santorum's 95 delegates and the 22 delegates pledged to Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Winning the nomination will take 1,144 delegates.

Press reports have put Mr. Santorum in second place based on projections about how delegates will be allocated in some of the caucus states where voters have cast their ballots, but where the actual delegates won't be decided until later, at county, district and state conventions.

Delegates have yet to be fully awarded in Iowa, Colorado, North Dakota, Minnesota, Maine and Washington. Mr. Santorum won the first four of those contests, while Mr. Romney won the other two.

Mr. Santorum and Mr. Gingrich are battling to be the conservative alternative to Mr. Romney in the race, and Mr. Santorum says his victories in seven primaries and caucuses gives him a leg up.

Mr. Gingrich, meanwhile, has won just two primaries — Georgia and South Carolina. But both those states bind nearly all their delegates to support the Primary winner.

Meanwhile Mr. Santorum has notched close wins in places such as Oklahoma, where he collected 14 delegates for his victory. But the Sooner State awards its delegates proportionately and so Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich earned 13 delegates each, making Mr. Santorum's victory gains him almost no ground on his rivals.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I think GIngrich is in worse shape with the independents than Santorum. But both have trouble — that’s why I wish Perry was still around, he seemed to have a broader appeal and fewer negatives.

I understand the “split strategy”, but I only liked it as temporary measure to hold Romney down until conservatives could get their act together and choose a candidate, and to complete the vetting.

I hold little hope that we can get to a brokered convention, and NO hope that a brokered convention will turn out good for conservatives. The rules are made to keep the convention orderly, and to not give power to outsiders.

Even if we managed to have delegates somewhat bound enough for a 1st-round loss to Romney, The delegates that become unbound will be enough to get him over the top. And knowing that, those delegates who have only a moral obligation, but not a legal one, will be persuaded to give in to the inevitable to avoid the damage a 1st-round defeat would cause the nominee.

To stop Romney, we had to knock him out, and it seems clear now that both conservative candidates vow to press on pass super tuesday that we will have trouble with that.

I hope I am wrong.

[CharlesWayneCT]

The point is that he has none of them now and no claim on them. His chance is exactly equal to the other three candidates.

That is simply not true, but if you want to believe that, go right ahead.

The fact is, in many cases the outcome is a foregone conclusion, based on the local delegates that have been chosen to go to the next round of voting, some of whom are bound to vote for a candidate, others of whom were picked because they promised to vote for a candidate.

[Yashcheritsiy]

Whatever rationalisation helps you to sleep better at night, then...

[RitaOK]

I believe I agree with your grim scenario, but I still hold to creating more of a “movement” primary, rather than treating this like any other primary wherein your scenario does hold water.

We need to create a MOVEMENT PRIMARY, and that can only be done if someone can drag Sir Lancelot off his high, white horse long enough to MAKE a movement out of this together with NEWT. IMHO.

A MOVEMENT speaks louder TOGETHER with one voice and can not be so easily ignored.

Otherwise, I have no doubt that Santorum will eventually soon fall in with Romney, and the Establishment. He always has.

Every. Single. Time.

[ngat]

>>the only calls for withdrawal I heard was Santorum’s campaign manager calling for Gingrich to withdraw.<<

“You must be listening in some alternative reality, because Santorum’s campaign has not, and will not, ask Gingrich to quit, and Santorum has publicly stated that he will not call on Gingrich to quit.

The guy who runs a SuperPac supporting Santorum called on Gingrich to quit. That’s not part of the Santorum campaign.”

All you would have had to do was wait 24 hours, watch for Rick Santorum on TV, and you would not have embarrassed yourself with your post.

[mojitojoe]

Did you join FR just to bash Newt?

[CharlesWayneCT]

I guess you are free to interpret what is said anyway you want. If someone says it is raining today when it is sunny, and I tell them they are wrong, it doesn’t “embarrass” me if it rains the next day.

[CharlesWayneCT]

BTW, I'm still waiting for someone to provide any links that have Santorum or his campaign manager telling Gingrich to quit.

Here's the latest from the campaign:

Senior campaign strategist John Brabender said the key for the campaign going forward will be creating an opportunity to challenge Mitt Romney one-on-one, though Brabender maintained the Santorum campaign would not directly call on Gingrich to drop out of the race.

“We’re never going to call on anybody to get out, but what we are calling is on Tea Party supporters and conservatives is to rally behind the only candidate that has demonstrated over and over again that he’s the one who can compete against Mitt Romney,” Brabender said.

Asking voters to support you and not your opponent is not at all "asking them to drop out" -- it's called beating them.

[mojitojoe]

[ngat]

Seriously, you want want to play games with language instead of just admitting Santorum is demanding Gingrich drop out for him?

Look at what Brabender said. (and it’s not the latest) The operative word in what you quoted and put in bold is “directly”. Oh, but Brabebder said “We’re never going to call on anybody to get out,” as he calls on Gingrich to get out!

Santorum himself was on TV yesterday telling Newt he should drop out. Santorum’s SuperPac guy was telling Newt to drop out. Richard Viguerie, Santorum’s Moral Majority evangelical backer spokesman was telling Newt to drop out.

Charles, I am disapoint.