Romney not getting his due

Worcester Telegram & Gazette ^ | March 8, 2012 | John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Romney backers in Massachusetts were feeling some frustration yesterday over the long primary slog their candidate still faces after Super Tuesday. Some said his campaign is not getting enough credit for primary wins so far.

“They continue to say he has to do this or that. He does it and they say he still hasn’t closed the deal,” said state Rep. George N. Peterson Jr., R-Grafton. “It seems as though he clears one hurdle and they put up a new one. He clears that and they say he didn’t clear it by enough.”

The Romney campaign won six of 10 primaries Tuesday and, Mr. Peterson said, won Romney’s home state of Massachusetts by a landslide with no other candidate even getting the minimum 15 percent to earn delegates. “Evidently that was not enough,” he said.

“He won the important state of Ohio even though he was behind last week, and that wasn’t enough,” Mr. Peterson said.

Mr. Romney, who pledged Tuesday night to win the nomination, also seems to have accepted that his victories on Super Tuesday, which give him a commanding delegate lead over Newt Gingrich, Rich Santorum and Ron Paul, would not prevent a continuing primary fight — possibly leading up to the convention.

Whatever happens, Mr. Romney, who told supporters Tuesday to expect good days and bad days the rest of the way, said yesterday he is ready to fight for the nomination all the way to the end.

But some local supporters think that is a dangerous path for the GOP, and would prefer to get the party united behind one candidate sooner to focus on beating President Barack Obama in the general election.

The fact that the primaries are now moving to Alabama, Mississippi, Kansas, and then Texas — states that have large numbers of evangelical voters who could help Mr. Santorum or Mr. Gingrich rally — reinforced analysis around the country yesterday that the former Massachusetts governor has not sealed the deal for the nomination.

“I was hoping last night it would be a little clearer and we could start focusing on the general election. But it looks like that’s not going to happen for a while,” said Worcester County Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis. “The question is, will we be able to rally the party behind him, or whether it will be so divisive it will cripple us,” the sheriff said.

“I think Gov. Romney will win the nomination, but a lot of us were hoping he would wrap it up sooner rather than see a prolonged primary fight,” Mr. Evangelidis said. The further the primary challenges go, the more the debate moves the candidate to the right and into more controversial social issues, he said.

That, he said, is a problem because it risks alienating more independent voters who he expects to decide the final election. It also distracts from Mr. Romney’s strongest issue in the general election, turning around the national economy.

An exit poll of 1,546 Republican primary voters in Massachusetts taken Tuesday at 25 randomly selected precincts found that 59 percent see the economy as the No. 1 issue in the election. That was followed by the deficit, immigration and abortion.

The exit poll also showed that 41 percent of Massachusetts GOP primary voters saw the ability to defeat Mr. Obama as the most important quality in the race, with experience chosen by 27 percent; moral character chosen by 19 percent; and being a true conservative chosen by 10 percent.

Religion played little difference in the voting here between Protestants and Catholics with both backing Mr. Romney by more than 70 percent. Among evangelicals, however, Mr. Romney got 56 percent to Mr. Santorum’s 25 percent and Mr. Gingrich’s 13 percent, according to the exit surveys.

Mr. Romney got 75 percent of the women’s vote and 72 percent from men. Older voters supported Mr. Romney at higher percentages than younger voters, and he did best among those earning more than $100,000, which made up 40 percent of those voting in the Republican primary in the state.

The poll also showed the tea party movement remains strong among Republicans and independents who voted in the GOP primary here Tuesday. A full 46 percent said they support the tea party movement and 36 percent said they were neutral, with 14 percent opposed to tea party politics. Also, only 35 percent said they were very conservative while 49 percent described themselves as moderate to liberal.

The poll also showed that few minorities voted in the Massachusetts primary. Of those polled, 98 percent were identified as white; 1 percent black; and 1 percent other races.

The exit polling was conducted by Edison Research of Somerville, N.J., for the National Election Pool, which consists of ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News.

[Ozymandias Ghost]

I would expect Allen will go w/the establishment ...McDonnell has endorsed him as I recall; so, given that “Little Bob” is Mitt’s guy and has been out campaigning for him actively, I would expect Allen will fall in line w/the “inside the beltway” crowd too.

[muawiyah]

This will be difficult ~ win with Allen then purge him from the party.

Sounds like a plan but if we are at $9 a gallon gas by election day it's quite doable.

[no dems]

Your Post #20: Good stuff. Thanks.